Increased Red Blood Cell Volume Distribution Width: Important Clinical Implications in Predicting Gastric Diseases.

BACKGROUND The red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a blood analyzer marker showing the peripheral blood erythrocyte volume heterogeneity parameters. It is a normal diagnosis index of many diseases. This study was performed to evaluate the relationship between the RDW and gastric diseases. METHODS A total of 189 patients with GC, 68 patients with gastric ulcers, 92 patients with chronic gastritis, and 157 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Each patient's RDW and other biomarkers were recorded. All of the statistical analyses and comparisons between each group were determined using SPSS16.0 software. The statistical significance level was set to a p-value < 0.05. RESULTS The RDW was significantly higher in those patients with gastric diseases when compared to the control group (p < 0.05). In addition, the RDW was independently correlated with the presence of GC and gastric ulcers. Significantly positive correlations between the RDW, platelets, and platelet distribution width (PDW) were observed in those patients with GC and gastric ulcers, although there were negative correlations with the red blood cells (RBCs), hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) (p < 0.05). In the chronic gastritis group, elevated RDW values were closely associated with the hemoglobin, platelet, and MCV values (p < 0.05). The specificities of the gastric diseases groups were greater than 90%. CONCLUSIONS In cases of gastric diseases, the RDW values were increased and were associated with several laboratory parameters. These finding may have important clinical implications in predicting gastric diseases.