NON-ST ELEVATION MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION: CORRELATION OF RED BLOOD CELL DISTRIBUTION WIDTH WITH SYNTAX SCORE

Objective: To determine the correlation between mean RDW values and mean SYNTAX scores in patients of non ST elevation myocardial infarction. Methodology: This descriptive study was conducted at adult Angiography Department of Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology, Faisalabad from September, 2017 to October, 2018. A total of 130 patients were enrolled in this study. Patients were divided into high (n=89) and low (n=41) SYNTAX groups. The high SYNTAX group was defined as patients with value in the third tertile (SYNTAX score, SX score ≥ 33) while the group with low SNTAX score was defined as patients with values in the lower 2 tertiles (SYNTAX score, SX score < 33).  The high RDW group was defined as patients with RDW value > 16 % and the low RDW group as those with RDW value < 16 %. Results: The mean RDW value was correlated with mean SYNTAX score in both groups. The RDW levels were significantly high in patients with high SNTAX score than those with low SYNTAX score (16.2± 1.8 vs. 14.2 ± 1.2, p <0.001). Pearson’s coefficient was used to determine the correlation between RDW levels and SYNTAX scores. There was a significant positive correlation between mean RDW value and mean SYNTAX score value (r=0.831, p <0.001). Conclusion: We found a positive and significant correlation between mean RDW values and mean SYNTAX scores in patients of non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. This reflects the utility of RDW being a non-invasive and readily available laboratory test to determine the severity and complexity of coronary disease in these patients.