An Elevated Platelet Count Increases the Risk of Relapse in Ulcerative Colitis Patients with Mucosal Healing.
- Author:
Asuka NAKARAI
1
;
Jun KATO
;
Sakiko HIRAOKA
;
Shiho TAKASHIMA
;
Toshihiro INOKUCHI
;
Masahiro TAKAHARA
;
Yuusaku SUGIHARA
;
Keita HARADA
;
Hiroyuki OKADA
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Colitis; ulcerative; Mucosal healing; Platelet count; Recurrence
- MeSH: Blood Platelets*; Colitis; Colitis, Ulcerative*; Humans; Incidence; Inflammation; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Multivariate Analysis; Observational Study; Platelet Count*; Prospective Studies; Recurrence*; Risk Factors; Ulcer*
- From:Gut and Liver 2018;12(4):420-425
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although mucosal healing (MH) has been considered a treatment goal for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), the risk factors predictive of relapse in patients who achieve MH are unknown. Because the platelet count has been shown to be a marker of inflammation in inflammatory bowel diseases, this study aimed to assess whether the platelet count could predict relapse in UC patients with MH. METHODS: A prospective observational study was performed. UC patients with MH were consecutively enrolled in the study and monitored for at least 2 years or until relapse. The correlation between the incidence of relapse and the platelet count at the time of study enrollment was examined. RESULTS: In total, 43 patients were enrolled, and 14 patients (33%) relapsed. The median platelet count at the time of enrollment in the patients who relapsed significantly differed from that in the patients who did not relapse (27.2×104/μL vs 23.8×104/μL, respectively; p=0.016). A platelet count >25.0×104/μL was a significant risk factor for relapse based on a multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 4.85; 95% confidence interval, 1.07 to 25.28), and according to the Kaplan-Meier analysis, this cutoff could identify patients susceptible to relapse (p=0.041, log-rank test). CONCLUSIONS: The platelet count could be used as a predictor of relapse in UC patients with MH.
