Prevalence of Macrothrombocytopenia in Healthy College Students in Western India.

Macrothrombocytopenia is being increasingly described across the globe. There is paucity of data on the prevalence of this condition from different parts of India. 10,047 healthy college students from the city of Surat in western India were investigated for macrothrombocytopenia i.e. those with Mean platelet Volume of > 11 fL and platelet count of less than 150 × 109/L. ABO blood groups, complete blood counts, peripheral smear examination and haemoglobinopathy work up was also done. Siblings and parents of the macrothrombocytopenic individuals were also studied when available. Bleeding assessment tool of International society of thrombosis and haemostasis were applied to see if there were excessive bleeding in macrothrombocytropenia patients. One hundred and ninety-six students (1.95%) had asymptomatic macrothrombocytopenia. More female students (P < 0.0001) had this condition and blood group A was under represented (P = 0.019) with this condition. Prevalence of macrothrombocytopenia was not related to ethnic subgroups to which the students belonged to, nor was it linked to presence of any haemoglobinopathy gene. In 38 of the 52, 1st degree relatives studied macrothrombocytopenia was confirmed at least in one of them. Excessive bleeding in none of the individuals with macrothrombocytopenia was noted. Asymptomatic macrothrombocytopenia is rare in western parts of India and affects 1.95% of the healthy population. Females were over represented with this condition raising a suspicion of X linked dominant inheritance. Underrepresentation of blood group A in this condition requires further study.