Aim: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) are chronic inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. An increase in thromboembolic complications has been observed among patients with IBD. Platelet activation and aggregation play an important role in the pathophysiology of atherotrombosis. Mean platelet volume (MPV), a determinant of platelet activation, is one of the newly identified risk factors for atherothrombosis. In this study, we investigated the possible relationship between IBD and MPV.
Material and Methods: The study enrolled 17 CD and 23 UC patients who were in remission for at least 6 months and a control group of 40 healthy subjects. Patients with established atherosclerosis, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, renal failure, smokers, patients aged over 45, patients diagnosed within less than 6 months and non-remitters were excluded from the study. MPV values were obtained.
Results: Comparison of IBD and control groups with respect to demographic data did not yield statistically significant differences. However,statistically significant higher MPV values were observed for IBD patients versus control group (8.17±0.71 vs.7.76±0.48 fl; p=0.004). Comparison of UC and CD individually did not show any differences in MPV values (8.26±0.82 vs.8.05±0.52 fl; p=0.3).
Conclusions: Our results show increased platelet activation in IBD and an increased risk for atherotrombosis in IBD patients.
Key Words: Atherothrombotic Risk; Mean Platelet Volume; Inflammatory Bowel Disease; Platelet Activation.
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