Thrombocytosis in diabetic and nondiabetic end-stage renal disease patients on peritoneal dialysis

This study was designed to measure blood platelet levels in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) and to compare platelet levels between diabetic and nondiabetic PD patients. Serial blood platelet levels were measured in 53 stable PD patients (32 male, 21 female; mean age 55 years; mean duration of PD 19 months) and 45 stable hemodialysis (HD) patients (30 male, 15 female; mean age 53 years; mean duration of HD 9 months) between January 1991 and July 1992. Twenty-four patients were diabetics, and 29 patients were nondiabetics receiving PD. Ten patients were diabetics, and 35 were nondiabetics receiving HD. Serial blood platelet levels were measured with an automated Coulter counter. Eighteen of 53 PD patients (34%) had platelet counts exceeding 300,000/mm3 for 6 months or longer. Thirteen of 24 diabetic PD patients (54%) had thrombocytosis. Blood platelets were significantly (p < 0.01) higher in diabetic (324 +/- 27 x 10(3)/mm3) than nondiabetic PD (236 +/- 11 x 10(3)/mm3) patients. No significant difference was observed in platelet count between diabetic type I (366 +/- 43 x 10(3)/mm3) and type II (282 +/- 29 x 10(3)/mm3) PD patients. A positive correlation was observed between blood platelet and serum cholesterol (r = 0.5, p < 0.001), blood platelet, and serum calcium (r = 0.4, p < 0.002), and blood platelet and WBC (r = 0.7, p < 0.001). No correlation was found with age or duration of PD. In conclusion, diabetic PD patients have elevated blood platelet levels that may contribute to occlusive vessel disease.