Vascular complications in Type 2 diabetes patients can be predicted by taking the count of mean platelet volume. Diabetics develop a number of severe health complications, including those related to blood circulation and heart. They can be prevented through a simple test to determine the mean platelet volume. A research study, conducted by a team of doctors at Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College in Kolar, revealed that the increased platelet activity might play a role in the development of vascular complications.
The mean platelet volume or MPV can be taken as an indicator of bad vascular events in diabetics, like coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease and stroke. Other related vascular problems are diabetic nephropathy, neuropathy and retinopathy. Dr A.K. Thomas and team studied about 600 people, including 300 Type 2 diabetes patients. The others were normal people without diabetes. They found that MPV was higher in diabetics when compared with the normal people.
“This indicates that elevated MPV could be the cause of or due to the effect of the vascular complications. Hence, platelets may play a role and MPV can be used as a simple parametre to assess the vascular events in diabetes,” the researchers pointed out. Platelets play a major role in the onset of micro- and macro-vascular diseases. The study gains significance in a country like India with 1.9 crore diabetes cases. A simple test on MPV could be used to prevent major complications in older age, thus saving expenses on high-end medication.
“Diabetes and its vascular complications can cau-se financial havoc, become a burden to a country’s national economy and dent its growth. India, having the highest number of diabetics, faces such issues. MPV will help in curbing morbidity and mortality,” the researchers said.