Clinical relevance of thrombocytosis in primary care

George Melling

doi:10.3399/bjgp17X692249

Intended for Healthcare Professionals

One thing jumped out at me from this paper that the authors didn’t comment on.¹ The risk of developing cancer within 1 year in a male aged >40 years with a platelet count of <400 is 4.1%, which is above the cut-off at which NICE suggests investigating for malignancy. What does this mean for GPs? That if we consider taking a full blood count in an older male (for any reason) we should really be asking ourselves, ‘Could this be cancer?’

REFERENCE

1.↵
1. Bailey SER,
2. Ukoumunne OC,
3. Shephard EA,
4. Hamilton W
(2017) Br J Gen Pract, Clinical relevance of thrombocytosis in primary care: a prospective cohort study of cancer incidence using English electronic medical records and cancer registry data. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X691109.