Red Blood Cell Distribution Width: A Novel Predictive Indicator for Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases

Table 4

Studies exploring association between red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and coronary atherosclerosis.

First author, journal, year	Study design	Study population	Mean follow-up	Major outcomes	Major limitations
(i) Yalçin et al. [127]; (ii) European Journal of General Medicine; (iii) 2012	Cross-sectional and observational study	296 stable eligible patients, 71% (mean age 61 ± 11 years) of them had coronary artery disease and 29% (mean age 52 ± 11 years) of them had normal coronary arteries	—	Red blood cell distribution width values were significantly different among the subgroups determined for the severity and extent of coronary artery disease	(i) The sample size was relatively small; (ii) It does not explain the exact mechanism; (iii) Control group included the patients who are not completely normal; (iv) Not rule out the possibility of residual confounding
(i) Çelik et al. [128]; (ii) American Journal of Cardiology; (iii) 2014	Retrospective analysis	572 patients without coronary artery disease history	—	(i) RDW was found to be higher in patients with critical stenosis, than those without (13.63 ± 1.28 versus 14.31 ± 1.58, ); (ii) RDW was an independent predictor of the severity of atherosclerotic lesions	(i) No follow-up of the patient; (ii) The sample size was relatively small
(i) Chaikriangkrai et al. [129]; (ii) Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology; (iii) 2014	Cross-sectional study	832 patients without known coronary artery disease who presented with acute chest pain, age > 18 years	10	No association between RDW and coronary calcification presence or severity	(i) Causal relationship cannot be established from this study design; (ii) Patients not having CBC performed were excluded, which might create a bias