Deans' stroke musings: Red Cell Distribution Width as a Predictor of Functional Outcome in Elderly Stroke Rehabilitation Patients

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Friday, September 11, 2020

Red Cell Distribution Width as a Predictor of Functional Outcome in Elderly Stroke Rehabilitation Patients

Their conclusion seems to be contradictory but what the hell do I know? I'm not medically trained.

Red Cell Distribution Width as a Predictor of Functional Outcome in Elderly Stroke Rehabilitation Patients

Eduard Zalyesov 1,2,

Inna Shugaev 1,2,

Yanna Prokopov 1,

Ron Shahory 1,2,

Stefan Chirmicci 1,2,

Efraim Aizen 1,2
1 Fliman Geriatric Rehabilitation Hospital, Haifa, Israel
2 The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Corresponding Author:
Efraim Aizen, MD
Fliman Geriatric Rehabilitation
Hospital, Zalman Shneur St. P.O.B
2263, Haifa 31021, Israel
E-mail: eaizen_il@yahoo.com

Background:

Red cell distribution width (RDW) is a prognostic marker in vascular diseases.
While increased RDW predicts mortality and outcomes after ischemic stroke, evidence regarding
its prognostic significance in stroke rehabilitation is lacking. Thus, the present study investigated
the relationship of RDW with stroke, orthopedic, and deconditioning rehabilitation outcomes.

Methods: This prospective comparative study included three groups (stroke, orthopedic, and deconditioning) of older adult patients hospitalized for rehabilitation. The patients in each group
were divided into two subgroups according to whether they had high (>14.5%) or normal
(<14.5%) RDW levels on admission. Functional outcome was assessed by total and motor FIM
(Functional Independence Measure) score changes and efficiency at admission and on discharge.

Results: Of the 234 eligible patients, 108 (46.2%) had high RDW. Of the 50 stroke rehabilitation
patients, 13 (26%) had high RDW. FIM change and efficiency scores were significantly lower in
patients with high RDW only in the stroke rehabilitation group. However, multiple linear regression analysis showed that high RDW was not independently associated with total and motor FIM
gain or total and motor FIM efficiency.

Conclusion:

High RDW levels on admission to rehabilitation were associated with poor rehabilitation outcome in stroke patients but were not an independent risk factor for rehabilitation outcomes.