Correlation of Red Blood Cells and Platelets Parameters.

INTRODUCTION: Platelet along with red blood cell count is a part of complete blood cell count, one of the most frequent laboratory tests in medicine. Platelet distribution width, plateletcrit and mean platelet volume are three indices provided by hematological analyzers. There are few reports in literature regarding the correlation of these three parameters with red blood cell parameters.

AIM: Aim of this study is to investigate the correlation between these platelets parameters and red cell parameters: hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume and red blood cell distribution width.

METHODS: Three hundred and three healthy blood donor volunteers (176 men and 127 women, mean age 37,3 years) were included. None of them had any known hematological disease in the past. The parameters mentioned above were measured by the automated hematological analyzer Coulter®LH780.

RESULTS: The mean values for platelets were: PCT: 0,25±0,11%, MPV: 8,11±1,94 fL and PDW: 15,89±2,74%. The mean values for their parallel red blood cell parameters were: HCT: 40,55±2,63%), MCV: 91±4,17 fL, RDW: 13,3±1,35% Statistical and regression analysis including the correlation coefficient between platelet and red cell parameters as well as Student’s t-test was carried out.

CONCLUSIONS:

• There seems to be no significant correlation between HCT and PCT. MCV and MPV were not correlated significantly as well, indicating that red blood cell and platelet sizes are independent. But there is a statistically significant correlation between RDW and PDW (r: 0,68, p<0,01) demostrating that anisocytosis of red blood cells and platelets might occur simultaneously.

• Based on these observations, further more studies should be carried out for the correlation between platelets and red blood cell indices in certain disorders.