Platelet Indices and Its Association with Microvascular Complications Among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in Northeast Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Mitku Mammo Taderegew; Gashaw Garedew Woldeamanuel; Mamo Solomon Emeria; Melkamu Tilahun; Getachew Yideg Yitbarek; Betregiorgis Zegeye

doi:10.2147/DMSO.S300460

Platelet Indices and Its Association with Microvascular Complications Among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in Northeast Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2021 Feb 25:14:865-874. doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S300460. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Mitku Mammo Taderegew¹, Gashaw Garedew Woldeamanuel¹, Mamo Solomon Emeria², Melkamu Tilahun³, Getachew Yideg Yitbarek⁴, Betregiorgis Zegeye⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wolkite University, Wolkite, Ethiopia.
² Department of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wolkite University, Wolkite, Ethiopia.
³ Department of Biomedical Sciences (Medical Physiology), College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia.
⁵ HaSET Maternal and Child Health Research Program, Shewarobit Field Office, Shewarobit, Ethiopia.

Abstract

Purpose: Platelet indices have been shown to be associated with complications of diabetes mellitus (DM). However, the clinical relevance of platelet indices for assessing the risk of being microvascular complications among patients with DM is largely overlooked. Hence this study aimed to determine the association of platelet indices with microvascular complications among type 2 DM patients.

Patients and methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 352 type 2 DM patients from April 1 to May 30/2019 at Debre Berhan Referral Hospital. Data were collected by interview, physical measurements, document review, and laboratory tests. Then the data were entered into Epi-data manager-4.4.1.0 and exported into SPSS-25 for analysis. Platelet indices were compared between participants with and without microvascular complications using an independent t-test. A logistic regression model was used to assess the association between microvascular complications and platelet indices. All inferences were considered statistically significant at P<0.05.

Results: One hundred seventeen (33.2%) of participants were suffering from at least one microvascular complications. The mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), and platelet-large cell ratio (P-LCR) were significantly increased in DM patients with complications as compared to without complications (13.57±2.17fl vs. 11.76±1.93fl), (16.57±2.49fl vs. 14.97±2.41fl) and (28.09±7.58% vs. 24.19±6.46%), respectively (all are P˂0.001). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, MPV (AOR=1.68, 95% CI: 1.37-2.05), PDW (AOR=1.37, 95% CI: 1.15-1.63), P-LCR (AOR=1.07, 95% CI: 1.01-1.14), age (AOR=1.07, 95% CI: 1.01-1.12), and duration of DM (AOR=1.31, 95% CI: 1.18-1.46) were significantly associated with the presence of microvascular complications.

Conclusion: MPV, PDW, and P-LCR were significantly higher among type 2 DM patients with microvascular complications. This indicates that platelet indices can be used as prognostic markers of vascular complications and can be used as simple and cost-effective parameters to predict microvascular complications particularly in patients with old age and long duration of DM.

Keywords: Ethiopia; microvascular complication; platelet indices; type 2 DM.

Grants and funding

The authors received no financial support for this study and the study was funded by the authors.