Viral diseases remain a significant global health threat, and therefore prioritization of limited healthcare resources is required to effectively manage dangerous viral disease outbreaks. In a pandemic of a newly emerged virus that is yet to be well understood, a noninvasive host-derived prognostic biomarker is invaluable for risk prediction. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW), an index of red blood cell size disorder (anisocytosis), is a potential predictive biomarker for severity of many diseases. In view of the need to prioritize resources during response to outbreaks, this review highlights the prospects and challenges of RDW as a prognostic biomarker for viral infections, with a focus on hepatitis and COVID-19, and provides an outlook to improve the prognostic performance of RDW for risk prediction in viral diseases.
【저자키워드】 Prognostic biomarkers, red blood cells, red blood cell distribution width, anisocytosis, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, pandemic, Biomarker, Diseases, severity, risk, virus, viral infections, Outbreaks, Health, Hepatitis, healthcare, viral disease, prognostic, distribution, resource, disease, prognostic biomarker, Blood, noninvasive, Predictive, disorder, Cell, highlight, IMPROVE, required, provide, in viral, Red, 【제목키워드】 distribution, prognostic biomarker, red blood cell,