Evaluation of mean platelet volume and distribution width in childhood infectious mononucleosis

Abstract

Aim: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an infectious agent that affects more than 95% of the world’s population and is usually diagnosedthrough characteristic clinical findings, hematologic changes in complete blood counts, and atypical lymphocytes in peripheralsmears. A definitive diagnosis requires serological confirmation of the EBV infection. This study intends to investigate the relationshipbetween the mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW) and plateletcrit (PCT) values, which are platelet indicesthat can be used as markers of inflammation in different inflammatory diseases, and the EBV-associated infectious mononucleosis(IM) disease.Material and Methods: A total of 54 patients (30 males, 24 females) with EBV-associated infectious mononucleosis diagnosed at theDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Gaziantep University between January 2015 and June 2017 were retrospectively analyzed.Meanwhile, 68 age and gender-matched children were involved as the control group. White blood cell (WBC), hemoglobin (Hb), MPV,PDW and PCT values were compared across the patient and control group.Results: While the MPV values of the EBV-associated IM patient group were significantly high, the PDW values were significantly low(p