Feasibility of using red cell distribution width for prediction of postoperative mortality in severe burn patients: an association with acute kidney injury after surgery.

Background: Severe burns cause pathophysiological processes that result in mortality. A laboratory biomarker, red cell distribution width (RDW), is known as a predictor of mortality in critically-ill patients. We examined the association between RDW and postoperative mortality in severe burn patients.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed medical data of 731 severely burned patients who underwent surgery under general anesthesia. We evaluated whether preoperative RDW value can predict 3-month mortality after burn surgery using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, logistic regression, and Cox proportional-hazards regression analysis. Mortality was also analyzed according to preoperative RDW values and incidence of postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI).

Results: The 3-month mortality rate after burn surgery was 27.1% (198/731). The area under the ROC curve of preoperative RDW to predict mortality after burn surgery was 0.701 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.667-0.734; P < 0.001) with a cut-off point of 12.9. The adjusted hazard ratio in patients with RDW > 12.9 was 1.238 (95% CI, 1.138-1.347; P < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that the survival rate was 88.8% for the non-AKI group with RDW ≤ 12.9 and 17.6% for the AKI group with RDW > 12.9. Preoperative RDW was considered an independent risk factor for mortality (odds ratio, 1.679; 95% CI, 1.378- 2.046; P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Preoperative RDW may predict 3-month postoperative mortality in patients with severe burns, while preoperative RDW > 12.9 and postoperative AKI may further increase mortality after burn surgery.