The high platelet counts as predictor for early foetal demise

OBJECTIVES: Early fetal demise (absence of cardiac activity in a visible fetus) is a very common event, but there are no reliable biomarkers to predict it. The purpose of the study was to assess the association of platelet parameters with early fetal demise. METHODS: In this case-control study, we included women with normal deliveries or those ultrasound diagnosed as early fetal demise. For those who were identified with early fetal demise, the platelet parameters were analyzed before the ultrasound diagnosis, which is based on the absence of either an embryo within a gestational sac or cardiac activity in a visible embryo in the 5-10 weeks of gestation. The association between the risk of early fetal demise with the women's mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet counts was calculated by logistic regression. Duplicate measurements of platelet aggregation were performed with VerifyNow. RESULTS: In total, 99 women identified with early fetal demise and 170 women who had an uncomplicated pregnancy with normal delivery from January 2017 and August 2020 were included in the study. We found that platelet counts in the early fetal demise group were significantly higher than healthy pregnancies. In addition, platelet reactivity is higher in the normal delivery group than those in early fetal demise group (p < .05). High levels of platelet counts resulted in an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 2.075 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.215–3.544; p = .008) for early fetal demise. CONCLUSIONS: Increased platelet counts in the first trimester may be a predictor for the risk of early fetal demise.