Red cell distribution width as a prognostic marker in diabetes; a pilot cross-sectional study

Saeed Shirali,Sara Bahadoram,Seyed Mohamad Kazem Nourbakhsh,Mohammad Bahadoram,Ali Asghar Valipour,Fatemeh Javanmardi

doi:10.15171/npj.2019.03

Abstract

Introduction:Red cell distribution width (RDW) is one of the important factors in anisocytosis which is related to impairment of erythropoiesis and degradation of erythrocytes. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of RDW as a prognostic marker in diabetic patients. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 144 individuals who referred to laboratories in Khuzestan. Of all, 69 persons were diabetic patients and 75 were non-diabetic. Results: The mean fasting blood sugar (FBS) and RDW coefficient of variation (RDW-CV), were 85.20 ± 9.12 mg/dL and 13.26 ± 0.69% respectively, in the non-diabetic group, and 238.65 ± 70.54 mg/dL and 13.50 ± 0.74% respectively, in the diabetic group. In this study, a significant difference of mean FBS (P <0.001) and mean RDW (P=0.04) between groups were detected. Conclusion: In our study, a significant relationship between changes in RDW and changes in blood sugar in diabetic patients was detected. Studying RDW in diabetes delineated higher RDW values than in healthy population. Therefore, it can be recommended to apply serum RDW as a prognostic marker for diabetes. However additional studies on this subject are necessary

Highlights

Red cell distribution width (RDW) is one of the important factors in anisocytosis which is related to impairment of erythropoiesis and degradation of erythrocytes
Red cell distribution width (RDW) is typically measured by automated laboratory tools. It represents the variation in the size of red blood cells (RBCs) and the heterogeneity in the volume of RBCs
Recent evidence suggests that anisocytosis is a common factor in human disorders such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), venous thromboembolism, cancer, diabetes, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, liver and kidney failure, and in other acute or chronic conditions [3]

Summary

Introduction

Red cell distribution width (RDW) is one of the important factors in anisocytosis which is related to impairment of erythropoiesis and degradation of erythrocytes. Conclusion: In our study, a significant relationship between changes in RDW and changes in blood sugar in diabetic patients was detected. Red cell distribution width (RDW) is typically measured by automated laboratory tools. It represents the variation in the size of red blood cells (RBCs) (anisocytosis) and the heterogeneity in the volume of RBCs. RDW is calculated as follows; standard deviation of RBC size/ mean corpuscular volume [1]. RDW represents a numerical measurement of the variation in RBC size It is a strong prognostic factor in patients with heart failure and in patients with myocardial infarction, before the incidence of any symptom even after matching with hematocrit [2]. Its elevated level indicates an increase in the variations in cell size [4]

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Conclusion