Prognostic value of red blood cell distribution width in organophosphorus poisoning severity prediction: A...

The present study aims to access the prognostic value of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) in severity of organophosphate poisoning and compare with Peradeniya organophosphate poisoning (POP) and clinical outcomes.

A total of 70 patients were admitted to the hospital due to organophosphate poisoning, and the severity was accessed by POP scale. The prognostic value of RDW was accessed and compared with disease severity prospectively at three-time points (during admission time, 48 hours, and 96 hours), and a follow-up was made for the outcome in terms of duration of hospital stay, the requirement of ventilator support, and mortality.

Based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the cutoff value of RDW was determined to be 16.1 with 88.24% sensitivity and 81.13% specificity and significantly compared with the POP score (a P value of < 0.0001). RDW is positively correlated with the POP score. During admission time, the cutoff value of RDW is found to be 16.8 with 66.67% sensitivity and 81.82% specificity and significantly comparable with POP score (P value = 0.0230), whereas in the case of patients with ventilator support, the cutoff value of RDW is >17, with a sensitivity of 90.91% and a specificity of 88.14%, which is highly significant in comparison with POP score (P value= <0.0001).

Subsequent ROC analysis indicates that at hospital admission, RDW can be considered as a reliable marker for predicting the duration of hospital stay and the need for ventilator support and can also be used for prognosis as well as risk stratification of patients with organophosphate poisoning.