Comparison of the Diagnostic Accuracy of Monocyte Distribution Width and Procalcitonin on Sepsis in the Emergency Department

The mortality rate of sepsis remains as high as 30 to 40%. Early diagnosis and treatment of patients with sepsis reduce mortality significantly. The most commonly used biomarkers in clinical practice are C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT). In terms of exploring new diagnostic tools of sepsis, monocyte distribution width (MDW) was first reported in 2017. It was reported as part of the white blood cell (WBC) differential count. MDW greater than 20 and abnormal WBC count together were reported to provide a satisfactory accuracy. The area under curve (AUC) in predicting sepsis-2 is 0.852. It was proposed as a novel diagnostic tool of sepsis in the emergency setting. Nonetheless, the performance of MDW compared with the conventional biomarkers remained unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of MDW and PCT on sepsis in the emergency department.