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Red cell distribution width, illness severity, and all-cause mortality in dogs admitted to the ICU
Mary E Pfeifer1, Jennifer E Prittie1, Ann Marie Zollo1
1Department of Emergency and Critical Care, The Animal Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
Objective:
To determine whether red cell distribution width (RDW) can predict illness severity and mortality risk in a heterogenous population of dogs admitted to the ICU.
Design:
Prospective observational study.
Setting:
Large, urban, private teaching hospital.
Animals:
One hundred eleven dogs consecutively admitted to the ICU between September 2017 and December 2018.
Interventions:
None.
Measurements And Main Results:
Abbreviated Acute Patient Physiologic and Laboratory Evaluation (APPLEfast ) score and RDW were measured within 6 h of ICU admission. This study did not demonstrate a significant difference in illness severity across patients stratified by RDW. There was no difference in RDW between survivors and nonsurvivors at hospital discharge or at 30 days.
Conclusions:
In this study population, RDW did not correspond with illness severity as measured by APPLEfast . Moreover, RDW did not predict in-hospital or 30-day mortality.
