The predictive significance of red cell distribution width in anterior ST- elevation myocardial infarction and its relationship with hospital mortality

Objectives: The clinical diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) involves assessing the patient's medical history and indirect evidence of myocardial necrosis using biochemical, electrocardiogram (ECG), or imaging methods. Ischemia, hypoxia, and myocardial necrosis result from a disrupted blood supply to the coronary arteries, typically due to atherosclerosis, thrombosis, and coronary artery obstruction. Given the rising incidence and healthcare costs of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), particularly anterior STEMI (ant-STEMI), this study examines the diagnostic value of red cell distribution width (RDW) in ant-STEMI patients and its impact on hospital and one-year mortality post-primary angioplasty. Methods: This study focused on patients with ant-STEMI undergoing primary angioplasty at Shahid Madani Hospital, Tabriz, Iran, from 2018 to 2019. Exclusion criteria included patients receiving drug or antithrombotic treatment, undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), not receiving primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), suffering from STEMI types other than anterior STEMI, having a history of thalassemia or anemia, and those with incomplete patient records. In-hospital complications, such as cardiogenic shock, hematoma, bleeding, and heart failure (HF), were recorded and analyzed using SPSS 23. Results: In this retrospective and analytical study of 300 patients, there was no significant relationship between RDW levels and in-hospital (P-value=0.59) and one-year mortality (P-value=0.68). However, RDW was significantly associated with hospital complications such as HF, cardiogenic shock, angio-hematoma, gastrointestinal bleeding, and stent thrombosis (P-value<0.01). Conclusions: Our study showed that RDW is not a reliable prognostic factor for mortality in anterior STEMI patients.