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The baseline information on prevalence of substance use viz.; cigarette smoking, tobacco chewing and alcohol consumption among the population of Assam, India is available. However, data pertinent to their impact on platelet count and Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) was lacking. Herein, a cross-sectional study was carried out to evaluate the potential effect of substance use on these haematological indices. Healthy volunteers were included in the study and interviewed for the assessment of substance use and frequency of consumption. For determination of haematological indices, Complete blood count was performed. Out of 510 study subjects, 26.1% (n = 133) were substance abuse and grouped under consumers category. Individuals with combined or multiple substance uses were also recorded. A significantly lower mean platelet count was observed among consumers as compared to the non-consumers (p < 0.001), whereas no significant differences were seen for the values of MPV between the groups. Females of the smokers group were observed with significantly lower mean platelet count as compared to the male smokers (p < 0.05). A relatively lower mean value for platelet count was observed among regular substance users as compared to the occasional and significantly reported only for the smokers group. Low platelet count was more significantly observed among the group of individuals who were combined or multiple substance users as compared to the non-consumers group (p < 0.001). The study concluded that the habit of substance use is one of the potential markers to be considered for quantitative variation of platelets. Besides, combined or multiple substance addictions could be much more deleterious.

Key words: Complete blood count, Mean Platelet Volume, Oral cancer, Platelet, Substance abuse