DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2018.v06i05.027

Pages: 2000-2005

Risk stratification methods for guiding the diagnosis and prognosis of APE is essential for selecting treatment modalities. It was shown that RDW correlates with ischemic events. In this study, our primary aim is to investigate the predictive significance of RDW for 30-day mortality in APE patients. We also aim to investigate the diagnostic significance of RDW in patients with APE. We reviewed medical records of 237 patients including; red blood cell distribution width, hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelet distribution width values, platelet counts, mean platelet volume counts and pulmonary computed tomography scan results. Mortality was defined as mortality in 30 days after APE diagnosis and caused by APE. Two hundred twenty-nine patients were enrolled. The study population was consisted of 116 (50.3%) patients in APE group and 113 (49.3%) patients in control group. The AUC of RDW for mortality was 0.648 (95%CI, 0.566-0.730, p=.042). The sensitivity and the specificity for mortality were 78.85% and 41.81% respectively when the optimal cut-off value of RDW was set to 15%. We found that RDW is a simple and useful tool for predicting 30-day mortality in APE patients. We also found that RDW is a significant diagnostic tool for APE.