Abstract

OBJECTIVE

As an important cause of mortality, and morbidity, it is hard differentiate neonatal sepsis from noninfectious diseases because of its nonspecific symptoms. At present, high quality diagnostic tools are still required. As well as giving accurate pre-opinion about prognosis, these tools are expected to be highly specific, sensitive and fast.Recently articles have been published about the role of platelets in host defence mechanisms, suggesting platelet parameters may be useful in early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. In line with these findings, we designed this study to investigate efficacy and usability of platelet parameters such as mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width and thrombocrit in diagnosing neonatal sepsis.

METHODS

Study cases were chosen from infants hospitalized between May-October 2009 at our neonatology department. Thirty infants with neonatal sepsis and 30 infants who didn’t have any illnesses other than indirect hyperbilirubinemia were enrolled. Tollner scoring system and positive blood cultures were accepted as diagnostic criteria for sepsis. Blood samples were evaluated for platelet parameters. Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS program for Windows. P levels of <0.05 were considered significant with a confidence interval of 95%.

RESULTS

When compared to the control group mean gestational age, birthweight and platelet count of the sepsis group were significantly lower. However, mean platelet volume and thrombocrit values were higher than those of the control group. There was no difference between groups in terms of mean platelet distribution width. Sensitivity of both mean platelet volume and thrombocrit for diagnosing sepsis was 100%, while specificity was 42.3%. Sensitivity and specificity of platelet distribution width were 52.5% and 45%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Besides routine haematologic, serologic and microbiologic studies, mean platelet volume and thrombocrit values maybe useful in making early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis.