Effect of Baseline RDW and Troponin Levels on Prognosis in Patients with Acute Chest Pain

Abstract

Introduction: Red cell distribution width (RDW) is a measure of the mean corpuscular/erythrocyte volume. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of RDW levels on the prognosis in patients with elevated levels of troponin I in the emergency department with chest pain. Materials and methods: The study included 3,922 patients aged over 18 years who presented to the emergency department with the complaint of chest pain between August 1, 2018 and August 1, 2019. Troponin values and RDW levels were compared to determine the ability to diagnose acute ischemic heart disease and determin the prognosis in these patients. Results: The median RDW was 13.3 (IQR 1.20) in patients with normal troponin and 13.3 (IQR 1.40) in patients with elevated troponin (p = 0.001), but there was no difference in clinical outcomes between the groups. There was no significant difference in RDW between the patients discharged from the emergency department, those discharged from the hospital (good outcome) and those that required intensive care or died (poor outcome) (p > 0.05). Conclusion: RDW levels may vary in patients with elevated troponin values and acute ischemia, but this has no affect on clinical outcomes.