Can mean platelet volume determine the severity of liver fibrosis or inflammation in patients with chronic hepatitis B?

AIMS: We aimed to determine whether mean platelet volume (MPV) is one of the variables that determine the severity of liver fibrosis and inflammation.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection were divided into two groups: patients with fibrosis scores of 0-3 and 4-6 and patients with histologic activity index scores of 0-9 and 10-18 (according to the Ishak Scoring System). The independent variables determining the severity of liver fibrosis and inflammation were investigated.

RESULTS

Two hundred and thirty-eight patients were included in this retrospective study. The fibrosis scores of 29 patients (12.2%) were higher than 3. The independent variables that determined the severity of the fibrosis score were a high level of serum γ-glutamyl transferase and a low blood platelet count (odds ratio and P values were 1.016 and 0.004 for γ-glutamyl transferase, and 0.986 and 0.002 for blood platelet count). The histologic activity indexes of 38 patients (16%) were higher than 9. The independent variables determining the severity of liver inflammation were serum HBV DNA, γ-glutamyl transferase, and globulin levels and the MPV [odds ratio and P values were, respectively, 0.1001 and 0.046 for HBV DNA (×10); 1.016 and 0.004 for γ-glutamyl transferase; 2.247 and 0.039 for globulin; and 1.488 and 0.004 for the MPV]. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the model predicting the severity of liver inflammation were 60.5, 83, 40.3, and 91.7%, respectively (area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve=0.775, P=0.0001).

CONCLUSION

MPV may provide useful information to predict the degree of liver inflammation along with other markers.