Debi Prasad Mishra, Sulata Choudhury, Bablu Tudu
BACKGROUND The study was undertaken to compare the coagulation profiles of preeclampsia and eclampsia women with those of age matched women with normal pregnancies and to determine the accuracy of platelet count as a simple, cost effective screening test to assess the potential severity of complications associated with PIH. METHODS Total 176 cases with 88 PIH (Pregnancy Induced Hypertension) cases and 88 healthy age and parity matched pregnant women were included in the study. Coagulation parameters- Total Platelet Count (TPC), PT (Prothrombin Time) and aPTT (Activated Partial Thromboplastic Time) were performed by automatic analysers. RESULTS In preeclampsia and eclampsia, decrease in platelet count (1.69±0.53 lacs/cumm) compared to the control group was statistically significant (p= 0.000) and increase in PT (12.5 ± 1.17 sec) and aPTT (30.5 ± 2.29 sec) were significant (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Platelet count is inversely proportional to severity of PIH and the risk of coagulopathy increases with worsening thrombocytopenia. There are no cases with normal platelet count where PT or aPTT were prolonged. Platelet count is a simple, low cost and rapid routine screening test for coagulopathy in PIH.
