Red Blood Cell Distribution Width and Mortality in ICU Patients; A Cross Sectional Retrospective Analysis Red Blood Cell Distribution Width and Mortality in ICU Patients

Introduction The red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a predictor of mortality in many conditions. We investigated the prognostic value of RDW in the general ICU population. Methods Two hundred and seventy-four patients were enrolled into this retrospective, cross sectional study in general full range ICU. Patients with history of recent blood transfusion, hematologic disorder and length of stay (LOS) ? 48 hours in ICU were excluded. The identification of these patients was performed via the central medical database of our hospital retrospectively. The patients were classified according to their age, LOS and clinical outcomes. The RDW values were recorded upon ICU admission (RDW-0) on 4th, 10th, 20th and 30th days respectively in ICU. The RDW value of the last blood sample was termed as RDW-last, and RDW-last% was defined with the percentage of RDW-last/RDW-0. We used Student’s t test and Mann Whitney U test to compare the groups. Repeated measures and parameters were analyzed using ANOVA and paired t tests. Logistic regression and ROC tests were also performed to determine the efficiency of the parameters for prognosis. Results There were no differences in the RDW values between survivors and non-survivors as expected with RDW-last and RDW-last% values. The RDW values were higher in non-survivors (in tandem to LOS) compared to the initial values. Conclusion The changes in RDW values to RDW-0 are more valuable for the estimation of lethal prognosis in hospitalized or critically ill patients.