TY - JOUR
T1 - Red blood cell distribution width as a prognostic biomarker for viral infections
T2 - Prospects and challenges
AU - Owoicho, Oloche
AU - Tapela, Kesego
AU - Olwal, Charles O.
AU - Djomkam Zune, Alexandra L.
AU - Nganyewo, Nora N.
AU - Quaye, Osbourne
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Future Medicine Ltd.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Viral diseases remain a significant global health threat, and therefore prioritization of limited healthcare resources is required to effectively manage dangerous viral disease outbreaks. In a pandemic of a newly emerged virus that is yet to be well understood, a noninvasive host-derived prognostic biomarker is invaluable for risk prediction. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW), an index of red blood cell size disorder (anisocytosis), is a potential predictive biomarker for severity of many diseases. In view of the need to prioritize resources during response to outbreaks, this review highlights the prospects and challenges of RDW as a prognostic biomarker for viral infections, with a focus on hepatitis and COVID-19, and provides an outlook to improve the prognostic performance of RDW for risk prediction in viral diseases.
AB - Viral diseases remain a significant global health threat, and therefore prioritization of limited healthcare resources is required to effectively manage dangerous viral disease outbreaks. In a pandemic of a newly emerged virus that is yet to be well understood, a noninvasive host-derived prognostic biomarker is invaluable for risk prediction. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW), an index of red blood cell size disorder (anisocytosis), is a potential predictive biomarker for severity of many diseases. In view of the need to prioritize resources during response to outbreaks, this review highlights the prospects and challenges of RDW as a prognostic biomarker for viral infections, with a focus on hepatitis and COVID-19, and provides an outlook to improve the prognostic performance of RDW for risk prediction in viral diseases.
KW - anisocytosis
KW - prognostic biomarkers
KW - red blood cell distribution width
KW - red blood cells
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121935450&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2217/bmm-2021-0364
DO - 10.2217/bmm-2021-0364
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34784758
AN - SCOPUS:85121935450
SN - 1752-0363
VL - 16
SP - 41
EP - 50
JO - Biomarkers in Medicine
JF - Biomarkers in Medicine
IS - 1
ER -
