The Ratio of Red Blood Cell Distribution Width to Albumin as a Predictor for Rehospitalization Risk and Rehospitalization All-Cause Mortality in Middle-Aged and Elderly Survivors with Sepsis: An Ambispective ICU Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between red blood cell distribution width to albumin (RDW/ALB) ratio (RAR) and the risk of rehospitalization and rehospitalization all-cause mortality in middle-aged and elderly survivors with sepsis based on an ambispective longitudinal cohort from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

METHODS: Between 2017 and 2022, 455 adults who survived the first-episode severe sepsis without recurrence for at least 3 months were included in this study. All participants were followed up every 4 weeks for 12 months. According to the tertiles of RAR, participants were divided into three groups: low-level (≤0.36, n = 152), moderate-level (0.37-0.44, n = 152), and high-level (≥0.45, n = 151). The relationship between RAR and the risk of rehospitalization and rehospitalization all-cause mortality was evaluated.

RESULTS: Out of 455 participants, 156 experienced rehospitalization (34.3%), of which 44 (28.2%) died. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that the RAR cut-off values for rehospitalization and rehospitalization all-cause mortality were 0.4251 and 0.4743, respectively. Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that the RAR was positively associated with rehospitalization ( P = 0.011) and all-cause mortality ( P = 0.006). Compared with the low-level, the high-level RAR presented a higher dose-dependent rehospitalization risk ( P = 0.02) and rehospitalization all-cause mortality ( P = 0.044). The stratified analysis displayed that compared to the low-level, with the RAR increasing by 1.0, the risk for rehospitalization increased 3.602-fold in aged <65 patients ( P = 0.002) and 1.721-fold in female patients ( P = 0.014). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis implied a significant positive association between the RAR and the cumulative incidence of rehospitalization and rehospitalization all-cause mortality (log-rank, all P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: RAR has a reliable predictive value for the risk of rehospitalization and rehospitalization all-cause mortality in patients with sepsis. Consequently, monitoring RAR for at least 1 year after surviving sepsis in female patients aged <65 in clinical practice is critical.