Clinical relevance of thrombocytosis in primary care

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?’

• © British Journal of General Practice 2017