ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Pediatric Neurology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1562921
Association between Red blood cell distribution width and encephalitis based on the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit database: A Cross-sectional Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou, China
- 2The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, guangzhou, China
- 3Cangzhou Central Blood Station, Cangzhou, China
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Background Encephalitis is an inflammatory disease of the brain parenchyma that continues to affect populations worldwide, with high morbidity and risk of long-term sequelae. Early prediction of its occurrence is very important to improve the outcomes of the childhood encephalitis. However, the relationship between red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and encephalitis remains unclear. We aimed to explore the association between RDW and encephalitis using a Chinese Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) database. Methods In a cross-sectional study, we analyzed a China-based PIC database spanning from 2010 to 2018. Children admitted to the PIC with encephalitis were included as participants to investigate the correlation between RDW and children encephalitis. Additionally, multifactorial logistic regression, restricted cubic spline analysis models and stratified analyses were utilized to evaluate this relationship. Results A total of 10185 participants were enrolled, among whom the encephalitis prevalence was 1.7% (173/10185). Multivariate regression models revealed that encephalitis in Chinese children was significantly decreased by 18% with 1% increase in RDW after adjusting for all covariates. (Adjusted OR =0.82, 95% CI: 0.73~0.92). When the RDW was analyzed using quartiles, The adjusted OR (95% CI) of encephalitis for participants in the highest RDW Q4 (≥15.9%) were 0.44 (0.23~0.85), respectively. Compared with individuals with lower RDW Q1 (≤13%) (P for trend = 0.011). The association between RDW and childhood encephalitis was stable in the different subgroups (P for interaction >0.05). Interaction analysis revealed no interactive role in the association between RDW and encephalitis of the childhood. Conclusions Our study indicated that higher RDW independently associated with reduced encephalitis prevalence in critically ill Chinese children. Validation through multicenter prospective studies is warranted to establish RDW's clinical utility.
Keywords: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW), Encephalitis, Cross-sectional study, critically ill children, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PIC) database
Received: 18 Jan 2025; Accepted: 25 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 He, Yang, Jiang, Yang, Zhang, Cao, Liu and Tong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Weichao He, Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou, China
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