A Study of Red Blood Cell Distribution Width in Acute Ischemic stroke patients- A one Year Cross sectional Study at KLE’S Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital and MRC

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES -- Red cell distribution width ( RDW ) is a parameter that measures variation in red blood cell size or red blood cell volume. Higher RDW has been related to poor prognosis in patients with cardiovascular disease. In stroke patients who have symptoms < 24 hours, the RDW may be useful in predicting the severity and functional outcomes of the stroke. The present study was taken up to study RDW in acute ischemic stroke patients and its correlation with severity and functional outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS – A one year cross sectional study was done between January 2017 and December 2017. Patients who were diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke based on CT/MRI brain were included in this study. They were scored based on NIHSS and underwent blood investigations including RDW. At the time of discharge mRS was calculated for these patients. Statistical analysis was done to determine association of RDW with NIHSS and mRS in patients with acute ischemic stroke. RESULTS – In our study population it was found that 63% of the patients with acute ischemic stroke had high RDW ( ≥14% ) .Correlati on of RDW with severity of stroke v as determined by NIHSS was studied using Pearson's correlation co-efficient. This study showed a positive correlation( r=0.2061) between them which was found to be statistically significant ( p value = 0.0397) . We also studied correlation of RDW with outcome of stroke as determined by Modified Rankin Score ( mRS ) . We found that there was a positive correlation( r=0.4706) between RDW and mRS and this correlation was statistically significant ( p value=0.0001) . INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION – The study shows that higher RDW was significantly associated with severity of stroke and also with poorer functional outcome .Therefore, RDW is a strong predictor for stroke severity and disability. Further studies on a larger population are required to evaluate and validate this correlation.