A platelet count of 102
| Where it fallscommonly reported adult reference ranges | Below the reference range |
|---|---|
| Platelet count | 102×10⁹/L |
| Usual reference range | 150 – 450×10⁹/L |
| Severely low | under 20×10⁹/L |
| Markedly low | 20 – 49×10⁹/L |
| Below the reference rangethis reading | 50 – 149×10⁹/L |
| Within the reference range | 150 – 450×10⁹/L |
| Above the reference range | 451 – 999×10⁹/L |
| Markedly raised | 1,000 and above×10⁹/L |
Notes
- One reading is not a diagnosis. Platelet count moves with infection, inflammation, iron status, alcohol, some medicines, and how the sample was handled. A clinician reads it against your history and usually against a repeat, not on its own.
- Reference ranges differ between laboratories. The bands above follow commonly reported adult reference ranges. Your own report prints the range its analyser was calibrated against, and that printed range is the one to compare against — a difference of a few units between labs is normal and does not mean either is wrong.
- Check for a clumping artefact before believing a low result. Platelets sometimes clump in the EDTA tube used for a routine blood count, and the analyser then counts the clumps as single cells. The laboratory usually flags it and repeats the sample in a citrate tube. A surprisingly low platelet count in someone with no bruising or bleeding is this often enough that it is the first thing to exclude.
- Bleeding risk is not linear. Spontaneous bleeding is uncommon above 50, and the threshold usually cited for spontaneous serious bleeding is nearer 10–20. A count of 120 is outside the reference range and carries essentially no bleeding risk by itself — which is why the finding matters mainly as a clue to its cause.
What platelet count of 102 ×10⁹/L means
A reading of 102 ×10⁹/L falls in Below the reference range by commonly reported adult reference ranges.
The usual reference range is 150 – 450 ×10⁹/L.
Reading it next to the rest of the picture
A single figure is a snapshot. What a clinician does with it is set by what sits around it — the other results on the same report, what the person is being treated for, what they were doing in the hours before the sample, and what the previous result was. Two people can hand over the same number and leave with different advice, and neither has been given the wrong answer.
That is also why the bands on this page are drawn from a named guideline rather than from a rounded rule of thumb. A threshold is a decision point somebody argued for in print, not a law of nature, and knowing which document a line comes from is what lets you tell a meaningful result from a borderline one.
Nearby sizes
Read more
- CBC Normal Ranges — What Each Line on the Result MeansA value marked high or low on a CBC is common and is often not significant on its own. The pattern across lines is what a clinician reads.
- eGFR Normal Range: Above 90, and the Stages Below IteGFR is an estimate built from creatinine, age and sex — and the estimate is better than the raw creatinine it comes from, for a reason worth understanding.
- TSH Normal Range: 0.4–4.0 mIU/L, and the Number Moves BackwardsTSH runs opposite to the gland it measures. High TSH means the thyroid is underactive, and that inversion catches almost everyone reading their own result.
- Cholesterol Numbers: What Total, LDL, HDL and Triglycerides MeanA lipid panel reports four numbers and the one printed largest — total cholesterol — is the least useful of them.