Usefulness of mean platelet volume as a marker for clinical outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a retrospective cohort study

Background Whole-body ischemia followed by reperfusion during cardiac arrest and after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) triggers systemic sterile inflammatory responses, inducing a sepsis-like state during post-cardiac arrest syndrome. Activated platelets are enlarged, and contain vasoactive and prothrombic factors that aggravate systemic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction. Objectives To investigate whether mean platelet volume (MPV) is useful as a marker for early mortality and neurologic outcomes in patients who achieve ROSC after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Methods OHCA records from the Emergency Department Cardiac Arrest Registry were retrospectively analyzed. Patients who survived for > 24 h after ROSC were included. We evaluated mortality and cerebral performance category scores after 30 days. Results We analyzed records from 184 patients with OHCA. Increased 30-day mortality among patients who achieved ROSC after OHCA was associated with MPV at admission (hazard ratio [HR] 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-1.75). An elevated MPV at admission was also associated with poor neurologic outcomes (HR 1.28; 95% CI 1.06-1.55). Conclusions An elevated MPV was independently associated with increased 30-day mortality, with the highest discriminative value being obtained upon admission after OHCA. An elevated MPV on admission was associated with poor neurologic outcomes. High MPVs are helpful for estimating 30-day mortality and neurologic outcomes among patients who achieve ROSC after OHCA.