Longitudinal decrease in platelet counts as a surrogate marker of liver fibrosis

Figure 1 Trends in platelet counts across 15 years prior to cirrhosis diagnosis among cases and controls (n total = 21032, 250646 platelets measurements). Done with locally weighted scatterplot smoothing trend. The mean platelet counts in the cirrhosis group decreased from 240000/μL to 190000/μL, starting 15 years prior to cirrhosis diagnosis, compared to stable values in the control group.