ABSTRACT
Thrombocytes are essential for hemostasis. Increase as well as decrease in platelet count has been reported to affect the outcome of pregnancy in various studies. This study was done to find if there was any variation in the total count of platelets in the peripheral blood in different trimesters of pregnancy, when compared to the nonpregnant individuals of same age group in the local population. Peripheral blood samples were taken from pregnant women of 18-36 years of age. 20 subjects of each trimester were tested. Samples were collected from 20 non-pregnant subjects of comparable age group for control. Platelet count was done by Brecher and Cronkite method. In the non-pregnant group, the mean platelet count was 208500 per cu mm of blood (±50157). The mean platelet counts per cu mm of blood in the three consecutive trimesters were: 255900, 274800 and 283900 respectively. All the values were significantly higher (p<0.001) when compared to the non-pregnant group. Our study shows there is a definite rise in the total platelet count as pregnancy progresses towards completion. But the count does not exceed the reference values as per international standard.