Research Article - Archives of General Internal Medicine (2023) Volume 7, Issue 4

Use of red cell distribution width− A routine hematological parameter for diagnosis and prognosis of ischemic cerebrovascular stroke: a case control study done at tertiery care centre in western india

Background and Objective: Red Cell Distribution Width (RDW) is a measure of range of variability in the size of red blood cells. Usually, Elevated RDW has been seen in relation with several hematologic disorders i.e., anaemia’s. Surprisingly, recent studies have shown that elevated RDW is associated with occurrence as well as severity of Ischemic cerebrovascular stroke. This study was conducted to evaluate the association between elevated RDW and increased risk and severity of acute ischemic stroke. Materials and methods: This is a case control study with 100 adults where the parameter of RDW was compared between cases (diagnosed case of ischemic stroke) and controls (without ischemic stroke) to study the association between increased RDW and occurrence as well as severity of stroke using National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) grading. Results: Age and gender matched 50 cases and 50 controls were studied for the final analysis. Amongst the 50 cases with ischemic stroke, 30 patients had elevated RDW level and amongst the 50 control patients only 7 patients were having elevated RDW level. The ODDS ratio was calculated to be, 9.2 (>1) suggesting that patients with elevated RDW level are more likely to develop ischemic stroke. A significant difference of mean RDW level was observed among all NIHSS categories. Mean RDW level was lowest in the minor category and highest in the severe category suggesting that patients with higher RDW tend to develop strokes with increased severity. Conclusion: Adult patients with ischemic cerebrovascular stroke are more likely to have elevated RDW and the severity tends to increase with a rise in RDW.

Author(s): Palak Patel*, Archana U. Gandhi, Devarsh Shah

Abstract Full Text PDF