Abstract
Emerging evidence has underscored the potential usefulness of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) measurement in predicting the mortality and disease severity of COVID-19. This study aimed to assess the association of the plasma RDW levels with adverse prognosis in COVID-19 patients. A comprehensive literature search from inception to September 2020 was performed to harvest original studies reporting RDW on admission and clinical outcomes among patients hospitalized with COVID-19. RDW levels were compared between cases (patients who died or developed more severe symptoms) and controls (patients who survived or developed less severe symptoms). A total of 14,866 subjects from 10 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Higher levels of RDW were associated with adverse outcomes in COVID-19 patients (mean differences = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.47-0.97; I 2 = 89.51%). Deceased patients had higher levels of RDW compared to patients who survived (mean differences = 0.93; 95% CI = 0.63-1.23; I 2 = 85.58%). Severely ill COVID-19 patients showed higher levels of RDW, as opposed to patients classified to have milder symptoms (mean differences = 0.61; 95% CI = 0.28-0.94; I 2 = 82.18%). Elevated RDW levels were associated with adverse outcomes in COVID-19 patients. This finding warrants further research on whether RDW could be utilized as a simple and reliable biomarker for predicting COVID-19 severity and whether RDW is mechanistically linked with COVID-19 pathophysiology.
Keywords: COVID-19; biomarkers; erythrocyte indices; red blood cell distribution width; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Biomarkers, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2., red blood cell distribution width, erythrocyte indices, 【초록키워드】 Meta-analysis, coronavirus, Biomarker, Biomarkers, Mortality, Prognosis, disease severity, COVID-19 severity, Symptom, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus, clinical outcomes, adverse outcomes, Clinical outcome, adverse outcome, pathophysiology, Research, Patient, Control, plasma, respiratory, distribution, Admission, COVID-19 patients, Blood, red blood cell, association, erythrocyte indices, Evidence, COVID-19 patient, blood cell, on admission, acute respiratory syndrome, 95% CI, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, subject, severe symptoms, mean differences, inception, severely ill COVID-19 patients, erythrocyte, disease severity of COVID-19, Cell, died, was performed, less, patients hospitalized, patients who survived, with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 Mortality, severity, systematic review, Patient, distribution, Blood, Cell,