A high platelet count is strongly associated with cancer risk, according to the authors of a new paper.
This potentially means that a common blood test could help diagnose cancer earlier, they claim.
The BJGP paper states that raised platelet counts are as good a predictor of getting any cancer as a lump in the breast is for breast cancer.
The team looked at thrombocytosis – a condition in which too many platelets are produced, which is thought to affect about half a million people in the UK over the age of 40.
The researchers compared one-year incidence of cancer between two cohorts: 40,000 patients aged 40 years and over with thrombocytosis, and 10,000 matched patients with a normal platelet count.
They found thrombocytosis is a risk marker of cancer. There was an increase of 11.6% in males and 6.2% of females.
