• Guy Topaz, Yona Kitay-Cohen, Lee Peled, Wesal Gharra, Keren Kaminer, Mayan Eitan, Lamis Mahamid, and Lotan Shilo.
• Department of Internal Medicine "C", Meir Hospital, Kfar-Saba and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. Electronic address: guyto@clalit.org.il.
• J Crit Care. 2017 Oct 1; 41: 166-169.

PurposeTo examine an association between red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and the prognosis of influenza patients.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective analysis of patients hospitalized with influenza during 2012-2015 in the internal medicine wards of one medical center. RDW measurements during hospitalization were analyzed. Primary outcome was complicated hospitalization (defined as at least one of: length of stay ≥7days, need for mechanical ventilation, septic shock, transfer to intensive-care, or 30-day mortality). Secondary outcome was 30-day mortality.Results153 patients were included, mean age: 62.5±1, 82 (54%) male; 84 (55%) had a high RDW value (>14.5%) during hospitalization. Patients with high and low RDW (≤14.5%) had similar age and comorbidity profiles, but those with high RDW had lower hemoglobin and higher creatinine levels. Patients with high RDW had a higher rate of complicated hospitalization (32.5% vs. 10.3%, p<0.01) and a trend for increased 30-day mortality. In a multivariate regression model, high RDW was a predictor of complicated hospitalization (OR 5.03, 95% CI 1.81-13.93, p<0.01). Each 1-point increase in RDW was associated with a 29% increase in the risk for the primary outcome.ConclusionRDW>14.5% was a predictor of severe hospital complications in patients with influenza.Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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