Objective: Predicting the prognosis of transient ischemic attack (TIA) is difficult for many frontline clinicians. The purpose of this study was to determine whether subsequent stroke in TIA patients can be predicted via the red blood cell distribution width(RDW).Material and methods: A total of 309 consecutive age- and sex-matched patients with new onset TIA, in our stroke center, were enrolled over the period studied. The patients were divided into two groups :103 TIA patients and 206 patients who had a stroke within 7 days after TIA. Complete blood count, biochemical parameters and brain imaging were performed in all patients. Results: The mean RDW values of patients with stroke after TIA were significantly higher than patients with TIA (12.84 ±1.19, 13.35 ±1.59, p= 0.001). In a multivariate model, RDW was independently associated with stroke after TIA (OR=2.52, 95% CI 1.46 to 3.35, P= 0.002). We also found that the higher levels of RDW, the earlier the stroke onset (p=0.024). Compared to ABCD2 score, the diagnostic power of RDW in the differentiation of patients with stroke after TIA is better (AUCs:0.613vs0.731, p= 0.015). When an RDW cut-off value of 13.95% is accepted for differentiating patients with stroke after TIA from TIA, the sensitivity and specificity were 73.7% and 74.3%, respectively.Conclusions: The early determination of RDW is a promising, rapid, easy and inexpensive biomarker to predict the subsequent stroke in TIA patients.
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