The predictive value of early-pregnancy mean platelet volume for preeclampsia: A meta-analysis.
Zsófia R Erdélyi, Balázs Mészáros, Zoltán Herold et al.
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In 30 seconds
This meta-analysis assessed whether mean platelet volume (MPV) measured before 20 weeks’ gestation is associated with subsequent preeclampsia. It included 20 studies with 3,050 women who developed preeclampsia and 12,522 normotensive controls. Early-pregnancy MPV was higher among women who later developed preeclampsia, with a pooled mean difference of +0.5681 fL (95% CI: +0.2144 to +0.9217; p = 0.0016). The association was also observed for severe preeclampsia; estimates for early-onset disease were less precise and not statistically significant.
Key findings
- Across preeclampsia subgroups, early-pregnancy MPV was higher than in controls: pooled mean difference +0.5681 fL (95% CI: +0.2144 to +0.9217; p = 0.0016).
- For severe preeclampsia, the mean difference was +0.4201 fL (95% CI: +0.1210 to +0.7192; p = 0.0059).
- For early-onset preeclampsia, the mean difference was +0.6943 fL (95% CI: -0.2361 to +1.6246; p = 0.1436), with substantial uncertainty.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that a routinely measured platelet index may be associated with later preeclampsia when assessed before 20 weeks, including severe disease. This supports further evaluation of MPV as a potential component of early risk assessment, while the pooled association alone does not establish its predictive accuracy or show that using it improves maternal or fetal outcomes.
What to keep in mind
The meta-analysis pools observational associations; the abstract does not report diagnostic performance or evidence that MPV-guided assessment improves outcomes. The early-onset subgroup estimate was imprecise and not statistically significant.