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Published on: October 17, 2018
Monocyte Distribution Width (MDW) in Patients with COVID-19: An Indicator of Disease Severity
Praveen Sharma1, Shano Naseem1, Neelam Varma1
1Department of Hematology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, 160012 India.
Insights
Monocyte Distribution Width (MDW) effectively predicts Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) severity and patient outcomes. This prognostic marker shows high accuracy in identifying patients at risk for severe illness, aiding timely intervention.
Area of Science:
- Clinical diagnostics
- Hematology
- Infectious diseases
Background:
- Early identification of severe Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is crucial for effective patient management and reducing mortality.
- Prognostic markers are needed to stratify COVID-19 patients based on predicted disease severity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate Monocyte Distribution Width (MDW) as a prognostic marker for COVID-19 disease severity.
- To assess the performance of MDW in predicting patient outcomes in COVID-19.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 145 PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients.
- Evaluation of Monocyte Distribution Width (MDW) using ROC analysis, calculating AUC, sensitivity, and specificity.
- Comparison of MDW values between discharged and deceased COVID-19 patients.
Main Results:
- MDW demonstrated an AUC of 0.702 for disease severity prediction in COVID-19 patients.
- MDW showed a high AUC of 0.916 when used to predict patient outcomes (deceased vs. survived).
- A cut-off value of >25.4 for MDW on admission correlated significantly with poor COVID-19 outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Monocyte Distribution Width (MDW) is a valuable parameter for predicting COVID-19 severity and patient outcomes.
- MDW can assist in identifying high-risk COVID-19 patients for prompt clinical intervention.
- Further validation is recommended for incorporating MDW into standard COVID-19 diagnostic and management protocols.
Abstract:
Identifying patients with Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) who may have a severe illness is essential for timely intervention and decreasing the fatality rate. In the present study, we evaluated the performance of Monocyte Distribution Width (MDW) as a prognostic marker for identifying disease severity in COVID-19 patients. We included 145 patients with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection in the study. The performance of MDW was evaluated by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), specificity, sensitivity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value. Further analysis was conducted for the disease outcome, comparing COVID-19 patients discharged (n = 135) to deceased COVID-19 patients (n = 10). As a marker of disease severity, MDW demonstrated an AUC of 0.702 (95% CI 0.620-0.775) in ROC analysis. If MDW is considered a marker of patient outcome, AUC was 0.916 (95% CI 0.862-0.953), comparing deceased COVID-19 patients vs. those who survived. At a cut-off of > 25.4 on admission, MDW correlates well with poor disease outcomes in COVID-19 patients. MDW can be considered a helpful parameter in predicting the severity of COVID-19 disease and patient outcomes. Its role and incorporation in the standard diagnostic algorithm and management of COVID-19 patients need further validation.
Supplementary Information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12288-023-01665-y.
