title: Can we distinguish stroke and stroke mimics via red cell distribution width in young patients?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Discrimination of stroke and stroke mimics is problematic in young patients. The aim of the study was to determine whether arterial ischemic stroke and stroke mimics can be differentiated via the red cell distribution width (RDW) value in young patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this retrospective cross-sectional study, a total of 236 patients hospitalized at the neurology ward were investigated. The patients were divided into 3 groups: the 1(st) group included young stroke patients, the 2(nd) group included patients with epilepsy, and the 3rd group included patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Complete blood count and computed tomographic brain imaging tests were performed in all patients, and magnetic resonance imaging was done when necessary.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 236 patients were included in this study. Ninety-five (40%) patients were young stroke patients, 71 (30%) had epilepsy and 70 (30%) had MS. The mean RDW values of young patients with stroke were significantly higher than patients with epilepsy or MS (14.9 ±1.2, 13.3 ±1.2, 13.4 ±0.6, p < 0.0001, respectively). The diagnostic power of RDW in the differentiation of patients with stroke is good (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.89). When an RDW cut-off value of 14.05% is accepted for differentiating young patients with stroke from other disorders, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive and negative predictive values were 73.7%, 87.9%, 6.1 and 0.043, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Red cell distribution width is a promising, rapid, easy and inexpensive parameter to distinguish young stroke from stroke mimics (such as epilepsy and MS) in young patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Recep
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saritemur
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biology, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Atis
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Lutfi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ozel
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: İdris
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Kocaturk
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mucahit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Emet
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hizir
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ulvi
keywords: diagnosis; epilepsy; multiple sclerosis; red cell distribution width; stroke