Geriatric Digestive System Department, Navy General Hospital, Beijing, China.
Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2014 Feb;26(2):174-8. doi: 10.1097/MEG.0b013e328365c403.
The red blood cell distribution width (RDW) has been reported to be a risk marker of morbidity and mortality for cardiovascular diseases in various study populations. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is also a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. However, the relationship between RDW and NAFLD is less certain.
RDW was determined using a Coulter counter together with the hemoglobin level in 1637 normal control individuals and 619 NAFLD patients who were consecutively referred by general practitioners for routine medical check-up. The total plasma cholesterol, plasma triglyceride, and fasting glucose were determined using a multichannel analyzer, and BMI, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and the incidence of hypertension and coronary artery disease were measured using statistical analysis.
Patients with NAFLD had a higher RDW, BMI, waist to hip ratio, SBP and DBP, fasting glucose, triglycerides, and hypertension incidence (P<0.01), and were also younger (P<0.01). NAFLD was considered as a dependent variable, whereas age, sex, BMI, waist to hip ratio, RDW, hemoglobin, SBP and DBP, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, and hypertension were considered as covariate variables. We found that age (β=-0.031, P<0.01), BMI (β=0.265, P<0.01), waist to hip ratio (β=6.166, P<0.01), RDW (β=0.154, P<0.01), fasting plasma glucose (β=0.301, P<0.01), and triglyceride (β=0.222, P<0.01) were significantly associated with the risk for NAFLD, analyzed by binary logistic regression analysis.
Patients with NAFLD were more likely to have high levels of RDW. Moreover, NAFLD was associated with age, BMI, RDW, fasting plasma glucose, and triglyceride. If confirmed in future follow-up studies, this association might provide a rationale to introduce the easy, inexpensive RDW in algorithms for NAFLD risk prediction.
红细胞分布宽度（RDW）已被报道为各种研究人群心血管疾病发病率和死亡率的风险标志物。非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）也是心血管疾病的一个危险因素。然而，RDW 与 NAFLD 之间的关系尚不确定。
使用 Coulter 计数器和血红蛋白水平在 1637 名正常对照者和 619 名连续由全科医生转介进行常规医疗检查的 NAFLD 患者中确定 RDW。使用多通道分析仪测定总血浆胆固醇、血浆甘油三酯和空腹血糖，并用统计分析测定体重指数、收缩压（SBP）、舒张压（DBP）以及高血压和冠心病的发生率。
NAFLD 患者的 RDW、体重指数、腰臀比、SBP 和 DBP、空腹血糖、甘油三酯和高血压发生率较高（P<0.01），年龄也较小（P<0.01）。将 NAFLD 视为因变量，而年龄、性别、体重指数、腰臀比、RDW、血红蛋白、SBP 和 DBP、空腹血糖、总胆固醇、甘油三酯和高血压则视为协变量。我们发现，年龄（β=-0.031，P<0.01）、体重指数（β=0.265，P<0.01）、腰臀比（β=6.166，P<0.01）、RDW（β=0.154，P<0.01）、空腹血糖（β=0.301，P<0.01）和甘油三酯（β=0.222，P<0.01）与二元逻辑回归分析中 NAFLD 的风险显著相关。
患有 NAFLD 的患者更有可能出现高水平的 RDW。此外，NAFLD 与年龄、体重指数、RDW、空腹血糖和甘油三酯有关。如果在未来的随访研究中得到证实，这种相关性可能为在 NAFLD 风险预测算法中引入简单、廉价的 RDW 提供依据。
