Bialas AJ, et al. – This pilot study investigated the hypothesis that platelet distribution width (PDW) could be a marker of hypercoagulation, which played a significant role in conditions related to worse survival of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Elevated PDW was associated with reduced survival of patients with COPD. If this finding had to be ascertained, PDW could be used as an inexpensive and repeatable prognostic tool in COPD.

Methods

• This study was a retrospective analysis of seventy nine patients.
• Using Welch’s t-tests or Mann–Whitney U, and chi-square tests, variables were compared after grouping patients according to the upper normal limit of PDW.
• Finally, survival in the 2 groups was compared utilizing the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression.

Results

• According to the findings obtained, 10 patients presented values of PDW above 16 fL, which was the upper limit of normality for the laboratory.
• Contrasted with patients with normal PDW, they had lower forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of vital capacity (FEF 25–75) – 35% of reference value vs 57% (P=0.003) and peak expiratory flow – 39% vs 54% (P<0.001).
• The results indicated that the median survival of patients with elevated PDW was seven hundred forty three days compared to those with normal PDW (1,305 days) (P=0.025).
• It was noted that the adjusted HR was 4.59 (95% CI: 1.1, 19.19; P=0.04).