• Tiago Antonio Tonietto, Marcio Manozzo Boniatti, Thiago Costa Lisboa, Marina Verçoza Viana, Moreno Calcagnotto Dos Santos, Carla Silva Lincho, Pellegrini José Augusto Santos JAS Department of Critical Care Medicine, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, 2350 Ramiro Barcelos Street, Porto Alegre 90035-903, RS, Br, Josi Vidart, Jeruza Lavanholi Neyeloff, and Gustavo Adolpho Moreira Faulhaber.
• Department of Critical Care Medicine, Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição, 596 Francisco Trein Ave, Porto Alegre 91350-200, RS, Brazil; Department of Critical Care Medicine, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, 2350 Ramiro Barcelos Street, Porto Alegre 90035-903, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: ttonietto@hcpa.edu.br.
• Clin. Biochem. 2018 May 1; 55: 15-20.

BackgroundRed blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a predictor of mortality in critically ill patients. Our objective was to investigate the association between the RDW at ICU discharge and the risk of ICU readmission or unexpected death in the ward.MethodsA secondary analysis of prospectively collected data study was conducted including patients discharged alive from the ICU to the ward. The target variable was the RDW collected at ICU discharge. Elevated RDW was defined as an RDW > 16%. Outcomes of interest included readmission to the ICU, unexpected death in the ward and in-hospital death. Variables with a p-value <0.1 in the univariate analysis or with biological plausibility for the occurrence of the outcome were included in the Cox proportional hazards model for adjustment.ResultsWe included 813 patients. A total of 138 readmissions to the ICU and 44 unexpected deaths in the ward occurred. Elevated RDW at ICU discharge was independently associated with readmission to the ICU or unexpected death in the ward after multivariable adjustment (HR: 1.901; 95% CI 1.357-2.662). Other variables associated with this outcome included age, tracheostomy and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) at ICU discharge. Similar results were obtained after the exclusion of unexpected deaths in the ward (HR 1.940; CI 1.312-2.871) and for in-hospital deaths (HR 1.716; 95% CI 1.141-2.580).ConclusionsElevated RDW at ICU discharge is independently associated with ICU readmission and in-hospital death.Copyright © 2018 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

13 keywords...

hide…