Background: Diabetes is an established risk factor for CVD; therefore, the subset women with GDM who develop type 2 DM are at an increased risk of developing CVD in the future Objectives: Assessment of platelet count and mean platelet volume(MPV) of pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM) and gestational impaired glucose tolerance(GIGT) to find out whether GDM or GIGT are risk factors for future development of cardiovascular disease.
Patients & Methods: A 50 gram oral glucose load(OGL) was administered to all participants(400 pregnant women) and routine hematologic parameters and mean platelet volume by using Beckman/Coulter MAXM Hematology Analyzer(Beckman Coulter, CA, USA), were studied at 24 - 28 gestational weeks. When plasma glucose >/= 140 mg/dl was measured following (OGL), a 100 gm-3-h oral glucose tolerance test was undertaken. Of these women, 296 (74%) have normal OGT, 48 (12%) have GIGT and 65 (14%) have GDM. The mean platelet counts were higher in normal OGL group than in GIGT and in GIGT group than in GDM group with no statistically significant differences between the three groups. However; the MPV was significantly higher in GDM group than that in the NGL group P<0.05. also; women with high MPV values had a lower platelet counts.
Results: A significant difference was observed for MPV values between GDM and normal ORL groups.
Conclusion: Presence of a high MPV in GDM could demonstrate an increased risk for current and future thrombotic complications.

Keyword: Diabetes mellitus-Pregnancy-Gestational DM-Mean platelet volume-Cardiovascular risk factors- Thrombotic complications-GIGT.

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