Association between red blood cell distribution width and mortality in severe osteomyelitis patients

Area of Science:

• Critical Care Medicine
• Hematology
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is an indicator of red blood cell size variation.
• Elevated RDW has been associated with poorer prognosis in various severe infections.
• The prognostic value of RDW in osteomyelitis patients within the ICU setting requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between RDW and one-year mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients diagnosed with severe osteomyelitis.
• To determine if RDW can serve as a predictive biomarker for mortality in this patient population.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective cohort study utilizing data from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC-IV) database.
• Patients were stratified into low and high RDW groups based on the median value.
• Univariate/multivariate Cox regression, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and Restricted Cubic Spline (RCS) models were employed to analyze the relationship between RDW and mortality.

Main Results:

• The study included 1109 osteomyelitis patients, with a one-year mortality rate of 12.08%.
• Elevated RDW levels were significantly associated with an increased risk of one-year mortality (HR=2.128, 95% CI 1.324-3.420).
• Kaplan-Meier curves showed significantly longer survival in the low RDW group; RCS analysis indicated a non-linear correlation between RDW and mortality.

Conclusions:

• Elevated RDW is an independent predictor of increased one-year mortality in ICU patients with osteomyelitis.
• RDW may be a valuable prognostic tool for assessing outcomes in severe osteomyelitis.
• Further research could explore the underlying mechanisms linking RDW to mortality in these patients.