The Role of Mean Platelet Volume in the Diagnosis of Neonatal Sepsis

Neonatal sepsis is still one of the main issues with unspecific signs and symptoms with high mortality and morbidity rates to assess Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) as a laboratory value for predicting neonatal sepsis. In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 72 term and late preterm newborns diagnosed with sepsis who were admitted into the neonatal ward of the children’s medical center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) from March 2016 to May 2017 case group. The control group consisted of 50 healthy term infants (mean age: 5.46±3.59 days). The blood test was performed at the time of admission. Hematologic markers including MPV, White Blood Cell (WBC), and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) were compared between two groups.  There were statistically significant differences between WBC (p=0.019), CRP (Mean Difference: 9.38, 95% CI: 4.19 to 14.58, p=0.001) and MPV (Mean Difference: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.25 to 0.86, p<0.001) in case group in comparison with the control group. The area under the curve was 68.71 for MPV. Diagnostic cut-off levels with sensitivity (80.56%) and specificity (52%) were found to be MPV> 9.2 fL. There was no significant association between MPV and disease status (case group: 9.80 ±0.88 vs. control group: 9.24 ±0.75). Despite higher MPV during neonatal sepsis, the MPV values’ sensitivity and specificity were inadequate to be used as diagnostic tests.  CRP is still a better marker for early suspicion of neonatal sepsis. MPV may be used in combination with CRP for identifying neonatal sepsis.