A STUDY ON THE CORRELATION OF RED BLOOD CELL DISTRIBUTION WIDTH (RDW) IN PATIENTS ADMITTED AS NON-ST ELEVATION ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME (NSTE-ACS) IN A TERTIARY HOSPITAL

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the main cause of death in both the developed and developing countries. Each year, 6 million people are affected by acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and 25% die of the diseases. Recent studies show Red blood cell Distribution Width (RDW) was significantly related to major cardiac adverse event and independently related to long term mortality in patients with acute coronary syndrome. Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) is group of clinical symptoms compatible with Acute Myocardial Ischemia (AMI), unstable angina (UA), non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). This study will focus mainly on Unstable Angina and NSTEMI which is collectively called Non-ST elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome (NSTE ACS). General Objective: To determine the clinical correlation of RDW in patients admitted as Non-ST Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome mainly the Unstable Angina and NSTEMI. Methodology: This is cross sectional retrospective study based on one hundred thirty-six (136) admitted patients in our institution from January, 2017 to March, 2018 as Acute Coronary Syndrome (UA and NSTEMI) who were diagnosed clinically. Demographic characteristics, laboratory studies including cTnI, lipid profile, complete blood counts (CBC), ECG and 2D echo results were retrieved and documented. Patients with low RDW (<14.0) and high RDW (≥14.0) were categorized according to the median of the baseline RDW values. Clinical information was obtained regarding the patient's history of systemic hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidemia and smoking. Results And Conclusions: Our study showed that there was a significant correlation between high Red blood cell Distribution Width (RDW) and Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) (p .007< .05). The higher the Red blood cell Distribution Width the higher their risk of having Acute Coronary Syndrome particularly the Unstable Angina and NSTEMI.