Survival in severe pulmonary hypertension due to chronic lung disease: influence of in-hospital platelet distribution width

Platelet distribution width has been recognized as risk predictors of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension. This study aims to investigate whether in-hospital platelet distribution width would be useful to predict all-cause death in patients with severe pulmonary hypertension due to chronic lung diseases (CLD-PH). Early in-hospital platelet distribution width was measured in 67 severe CLD-PH patients who were confirmed by right heart catheterization and followed up. Event-free survival was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method and analyzed with the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards models were performed to determine the association between the platelet distribution width level and all-cause death. During median of 2.4 (2.5, 3.7) years of follow-up, 44 patients died. A significant association was noted between in-hospital platelet distribution width level and the adjusted risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio: 1.245; 95% confidence interval: 1.117–1.386, P < 0.001). Compared with those with platelet distribution width <16.1%, the hazard ratio for all-cause death increased by 5.278 (95% confidence interval: 2.711–10.276, P < 0.0001) among patients with platelet distribution width ≥16.1%. Higher levels of platelet distribution width were also associated with increased risk of all-cause death. In-hospital platelet distribution width was independently associated with all-cause death in patients with severe CLD-PH. This potentially could be used to estimate the severity of severe CLD-PH.