Elevated MDW correlates with altered monocyte subset proportions and enhanced in vivo caspase-1 activation, with a particularly strong association with non-classical monocyte caspase-1 activity. Given that non-classical monocyte caspase-1 activity is markedly increased in patients with sepsis, our results suggest a potential clinically relevant association linking MDW to sepsis-associated monocyte dysfunction, which may inform the interpretation of MDW in clinical practice.
Liu et al. (2026) studied this question.