Plateletcrit: A sensitive biomarker for evaluating disease activity in Crohn's disease with low hs‐ CRP

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether PLT indices could act as non‐invasive biomarkers for active C rohn's disease ( CD ). Methods: Altogether 130 CD patients and 130 age‐ and gender‐matched healthy volunteers were retrospectively enrolled in the study. CD patients were further divided into patients with active disease ( C rohn's disease activity index [ CDAI ] >150) and in remission. PLT indices including PLT count, mean platelet volume ( MPV ), platelet distribution width ( PDW ), platelet large cell ratio ( P ‐ LCR ) and plateletcrit ( PCT ) were detected. High‐sensitivity C ‐reactive protein (hs‐ CRP ) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate ( ESR ) levels were also determined. Results: In active CD , PLT and PCT levels were notably higher but P ‐ LCR and PDW levels were lower than those in healthy controls and patients in remission. PLT , PDW , P ‐ LCR and PCT were significantly correlated with CDAI ( P < 0.05). The receiver operating characteristic ( ROC ) curve showed that with a cut‐off value of 0.28%, PCT achieved a sensitivity of 67% and a specificity of 63% for detecting active CD , with the area under ROC curve ( AUROC ) of 0.67, which was inferior to hs‐ CRP and ESR . For patients with active disease who had hs‐CRP levels lower than 10.0 mg/L, PCT turned out to be the best index for monitoring disease activity (sensitivity 71%, specificity 85%, AUROC 0.77, P = 0.02). Conclusion: PCT may act as a specific and sensitive biomarker for determining active CD , especially in patients with an hs‐ CRP level lower than 10.0 mg/ L .