Mean platelet volume values in preeclampsia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Mean platelet volume (MPV) has been explored in several observational studies in the field of preeclampsia and current evidence seem to be conflicting. The purpose of the present meta-analysis is to evaluate the reported MPV differences in patients that develop preeclampsia and to compare them to those of otherwise healthy women.

DESIGN AND METHODS: We searched the international literature using the Medline (1966-2018), Scopus (2004-2018), EMBASE (1947-2018) and Clinicaltrials.gov (2008-2018) databases. Statistical meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan 5.3 software.

RESULTS: The meta-analysis was based on outcomes reported from 50 studies that included 14,614 women. MPV was significantly higher in preeclamptic than healthy pregnant women (7905 women, MD: 1.04 fl, 95% CI [0.76, 1.32]). The mean difference was less evident among women with mild preeclampsia (6604 women, MD: 0.65 fl, 95% CI [0.19, 1.11]), compared to the severe ones (6119 women, MD: 1.28 fl, 95% CI [0.75, 1.80]). The results of the univariate meta-regression analysis showed that region, sample size, time to analysis, anticoagulant, platelet count and NOS score did not affect the outcomes of the meta-analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings of our meta-analysis suggest that mean platelet volume represents a promising biomarker for the detection and follow-up of patients that develop preeclampsia. However, given that the available evidence is drawn from case-control studies, future cohorts are needed in this field to accurately determine optimal timing and cut-off values that may be used in the clinical setting.