Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Morphologic and functional platelet abnormalities have been previously reported in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and some of these abnormalities have been linked to increased cardiovascular risk. Mean platelet volume (MPV) informs not only about platelet size, but also about its functions. Larger platelets bear more thrombotic potential. Higher MPV values have been correlated with cardiovascular events in the short and long run. Previous studies have demonstrated higher MPV levels in type 2 diabetic patients in comparison with those with normal glucose metabolism. However, the effect of glycemic control on MPV has not been investigated before. This study aimed to explore the effect of glycemic control on MPV.

Subjects and methods: MPV of 94 patients with type 2 DM were determined before and after glycemic regulation. The control group consisted of 61 age and body mass index matched cases with normal glucose metabolism.

Results: MPV levels were found to be significantly higher in diabetic patients (9.7±1.5 fl) than the controls (7.8±0.9 fl) (P<0.001). Glycated hemoglobin levels before and after glycemic control were 8.8±2.0 and 6.4±0.5% respectively (P<0.0001). MPV levels were not significantly different before and after glycemic control (9.7±1.5 and 9.5±1.5 fl respectively, P=0.17) in type 2 DM patients. The two groups were also similar as far as the platelet numbers were concerned.

Conclusion: High MPV values in type 2 DM patients may reflect an intrinsic abnormality of the platelets, which might in turn conceive tendency to cardiovascular events.