The relationship between mean platelet volume and diabetic retinopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most common diseases causing blindness in the world, and most patients are already in advanced stage. Recent years, many studies reported mean platelet volume (MPV) may be associated with development of DR, but there was no consistent conclusion reached. METHODS: Literature was retrieved by formally searching PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library and Scopus and by hand searching of reference lists of related articles. Finally, a total of 14 literatures included, and Review manager 5.3 and STATA 14.0 statistical software were utilized for processing. RESULTS: Meta-analysis showed that MPV values in DR were significantly higher than health controls [SMD (95% CI) = 0.92 (0.60–1.24)] and type 2 diabetes mellitus without diabetic retinopathy (T2DM without DR) [SMD (95% CI) = 0.36 (0.19–0.53)]. Subgroup analysis indicated that MPV level in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) patients was higher than T2DM without DR patients [SMD (95% CI) = 0.48 (0.28, 0.68)], but this difference didn’t appear in non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR). CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated that increased MPV level was significant associated with the development of DR, and it might reflect the severity of DR, which could be provided to monitor development and progression of DR clinically.