Mean platelet volume and eosinophilia relationship in patients with bullous pemphigoid

Abstract

Introduction: Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune skin disease that is characterized by the formation of blisters on normal or erythematous skin. In patients with BP, eosinophils are highly represented in the inflammatory infiltrate of the lesional skin and their levels are often increased in peripheral blood. It is known that eosinophils are the major intravascular source of tissue factor (TF), an initiator of the extrinsic coagulation pathway. Patients with BP are also three times more likely to develop pneumonia and pulmonary embolism than the matched controls. We hypothesized that there might be an association between the eosinophil level and mean platelet volume (MPV) in these patients. Patient and method: A total of 19 patients with BP and age–sex match 22 healthy controls were included in this study retrospectively. MPV before treatment, MPV after treatment, platelet, eosinophil count before treatment, eosinophil count after treatment, white blood cell, glucose, C reactive protein and sedimentation rate were evaluated in BP patients and the control group. Results: The MPV value (8.32 fl ± 1.8) and eosinophil count (1.03 × 103 μL−1 ± 0.36) in patients with BP was significantly higher than that of control subjects (p = 0.036) and (0.22 ×103 μL−1 ± 0.29) (p = 0.002) (p < 0.05, Mann–Whitney U-test). Conclusion: In this study high levels of MPV and eosinophil levels have been detected. MPV may be a useful indicator of the risk of vascular events. Prospective studies are needed to compare disease activity, thromboembolic events and MPV in BP patients.