The Predictive Value of RBC Distribution Width (RDW) at Clinical Outcome in Stroke Patients Treated with Intravenous Tissue Plasminogen Activator (TPA)

Abstract

In the present study, we sought to investigate the association of RDW with stroke severity and final outcome in patients who underwent anti-thrombolytic administration with tissue plasminogen activator (TPA). Material and Method: This prospective study was conducted during twenty-four months since April 2016. The participants were all the patients with definite diagnosis of stroke who admitted to emergency department of Imam Reza University Hospital of Tabriz University of Medical sciences. All the patients with specific criteria for TPA injection were included in the study. The blood samples were obtained at the time of admission for the measurement of RDW. The patients were followed during 3 months. The severity of stroke was assessed using National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and the clinical outcome was measured by Modified Ranking Score (mRS) in 36 hours, 7 days and 3 months. Results: During the time of study, 282 subjects with required criteria were included. The study population consisted of 155 men and 127 women aged 65.20 ± 12.70 years (17-90). The categorization of RDW to <12.9 and >13 values revealed insignificant difference in stroke severity score, accounting for the mean 36-hour NIHSS of 8.19 ± 8.2 in normal RDW values and 9.94 ± 8.28in higher RDW group (p = 0.64). In seventh day assessment, NIHSS was 6.46 ± 7.28 in normal RDW group and was 8.52 ± 8.35 in increased RDW group (p = 0.058). Neither the thirty-six-hour, nor the seventh day and 3-month mRS demonstrated significant difference between those with normal and higher RDW values.