Getting back to zero with nucleated red blood cells: following trends is not necessarily a bad thing

BackgroundThe presence of nucleated red blood cells (NRBCs) has been identified as a poor prognostic indicator. We investigated the relationship of NRBC trends in patients with and without trauma.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed surgical intensive care unit admissions over 4 years, categorizing trauma and nontrauma patients and subdividing them into 3 groups: group A, all-zero NRBC; group B, positive NRBC value returning to zero; and group C, positive NRBC value that did not return to zero. We analyzed all groups for outcomes of length of stay and mortality.ResultsGroup A was the largest and had the shortest length of stay and least mortality. Group C had the highest mortality rate. No statistical difference was observed with mortality.ConclusionsAny positive NRBC was associated with poor outcome, and increasing NRBC was associated with increasing mortality. Trends in NRBC values showed that returning to zero was protective.