Platelet validation

Project Details

Exploring the CVDL and linked Patron dataset to assess the feasibility of cancer research proposals on behalf of the Data Connect team and external researchers.  This project examined the risk of cancer following detection of a raised platelet count in primary care, stratified results by cancer site and applied different thresholds for defining a raised platelet count.

Patron ID: PAT1032_6

Project Lead: Dr Meena Rafiq

Research Outcomes

This project was an international collaboration involving researchers from The University of Melbourne (VCCC Data Connect team), The University of Toronto and The University of Exeter.

Raised platelet count levels have been associated with an increased risk of having cancer. Work from the UK found that patients with high-normal platelet counts also have a higher risk of having as-yet-undetected cancer. This study compared primary blood test results from three different countries to see the risk of cancer at different cut-offs of the platelet count and what platelet counts had a higher risk of cancer in different age groups (looking at males and females separately).

Using the Patron dataset, we were able to show that Australian males and females with high-normal platelet counts had an increased risk of having underlying cancer and this risk increased with rising platelet count and increasing age. These findings correlated with the findings from Canada and the UK to provide support for introducing age-specific thresholds for classifying platelet counts as abnormal.

This work has been published in Cancer Medicine and has been presented at two international conferences.