ABSTRACT
Objective: To study the association between red cell distribution width (RDW) and mortalityin critically-ill children admitted in a Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Methods: 101participants were recruited consecutively over 3 months. Data collected includeddemographics, vital parameters, laboratory values, severity and organ failure scores, RDWfor the first 5 days of admission, duration of PICU stay and survival outcome. Results: 11patients died during study period. High RDW at admission (RDW D1) correlated significantlywith mortality (P=0.007). The odds of death increased by 15 to 23 times with rise in RDW D1from 18% to >21%. The optimal RDW D1 cut-off value for mortality was 18.6%, which yieldedsensitivity 90.9%, specificity 70.8%, positive predictive value 27.8%, negative predictivevalue 98.4%, and area under curve (AUC) 0.83 (95%CI 0.737, 0.925). 29 out of 60 (48.3%)patients with RDW D4 >18% had PICU stay of ?7 days. Conclusion: High (?18.6%) RDW atadmission and its persistent high levels are associated with high mortality and prolonged stayin PICU, respectively