Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the predictive value of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) in patients with a primary diagnosis of seizures admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in terms of in-hospital mortality.
Methods: This was a retrospective study of the eICU Collaborative Research Database of adult patients (aged 18-88 years) with a primary diagnosis of seizures in 2014 and 2015. The prognostic value of RDW was investigated using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, multiple logistic regression model, and net reclassification index (NRI).
Results: We identified 1568 patients who met the inclusion criteria. High RDW was significantly correlated with in-hospital mortality after adjusting for potential confounders with an odds ratio (OR) of 3.513 (95% confidence interval [CI]:1.699-7.266). The area under the ROC curve of RDW for in-hospital mortality was 0.7225. Compared with the prediction of in-hospital mortality using APACHE IV score alone, the continuous NRI with the RDW variable was 0.3507 (95%CI: 0.0584-0.6431, p < 0.05). The length of stay in the ICU of patients with an RDW >14.65% was significantly increased compared to those with normal RDW (log-rank test, p < 0.0001).
Conclusion: RDW width can be useful for prediction of in-hospital mortality in patients with seizures admitted to the ICU, and it provides additional prognostic value beyond the APACHE IV score alone.
Keywords: In-hospital mortality; Intensive care unit; Red blood cell distribution width; Seizure; eICU-CRD database.
© 2021. Fondazione Società Italiana di Neurologia.