Red cell distribution width in type 2 diabetic patients

OBJECTIVE To study the indices of some elements of the complete blood count, in type 2 diabetic patients, in comparison with nondiabetic healthy controls; and to find out the effects of glycemic control and different medications on these indices. To the best of our knowledge, this study is novel in our environment and will serve as a foundation for other researchers in this field. METHODS This retrospective study included 260 type 2 diabetic patients on treatment and 44 healthy control subjects. Sex, age, weight, height, blood pressure, complete blood count, fasting plasma glucose, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and lipid profile data, were available for all of the study population. For diabetic patients, data on duration of diabetes and all medications were also available. RESULTS Red cell distribution width (RDW) was significantly higher in diabetic patients than in control subjects (P=0.008). It was also higher in patients with uncontrolled glycemia (HbA1c >7%) than those with good control (HbA1c ≤7%; P=0.035). Mean platelet volume (MPV) was comparable in both diabetic patients and healthy controls (P=0.238). RDW and MPV did not significantly correlate with fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c, or duration of diabetes. Both aspirin and clopidogrel did not show a significant effect on MPV. Both insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents did not show a significant effect on RDW, mean corpuscular volume, MPV, platelet count, or white blood cell count. Diabetic patients treated with indapamide or the combined thiazides and angiotensin receptor blockers showed no significant difference in RDW when compared with the control subjects. CONCLUSION RDW, which is recently considered as an inflammatory marker with a significant predictive value of mortality in diseased and healthy populations, is significantly higher in diabetic patients than healthy subjects and is particularly higher in uncontrolled glycemia. None of the studied hypoglycemic agents showed a significant effect on RDW. Diabetic hypertensive patients receiving antihypertensive therapy in the form of indapamide or the combined therapy of thiazides and angiotensin receptor blockers have RDW values comparable to those of the healthy population.