Mean Platelet Volume in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus - A Marker of Cardiovascular Risk

Background: Non- alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common liver disease associated with diabetes and cardiovascular risk. Platelets play a vital role in hemostasis and mean platelet volume (MPV) is a measure of average size and platelet activity. Larger platelets are highly thrombogenic. Increase in MPV is well documented in diabetes mellitus (DM). Hence, MPV can be used as simple and cost-effective hematological parameter for predicting cardiovascular events in metabolic syndrome. The present study was conducted to study significance of MPV in NAFLD in type 2 DM (T2 DM). Materials & methods: A case- control study was conducted on 97 T2 DM patients. They were divided into: group 1 which included T2 DM patients without NAFLD and group 2 with T2 DM patients with NAFLD. Healthy 78 individuals were taken as controls. Serum was used for estimation of fasting and post-prandial bood sugar (FBS & PPBS) and liver function test (LFT). EDTA anticoagulated blood was used for estimation of mean platelet volume (MPV). Results: Among 97 T2 DM patients, 62 were males (63.9%) and 35 were females (36%). Liver size, liver enzymes such as aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and gamma- glutamyl transferase (GGT) were significantly increased in T2DM patients compared to controls and same were significantly increased in T2DM patients with NAFLD compared to those without NAFLD. MPV was found to be increased in T2 DM patients compared to controls. It was also noted to be increased in T2 DM patients with NAFLD compared to T2 DM patients without NAFLD but there was no statistical significance. Conclusion: MPV should be included as screening test to predict cardiovascular events in T2 DM patients with NAFLD.