Lin Feng, Wang Xingqiang, Liang Yan, Liu Donghong, Zhang Yuting, Zhong Renqian, Yang Zaixing
Department of General Surgery, Huangyan Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Taizhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang, China.
Department of Information, General Hospital of Ji'nan Military Command Region, Ji'nan, China.
Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2018 May;48(3):301-307.
To date, there have been no studies systematically comparing red blood cell distribution width (RDW) among rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and osteoarthritis (OA). Therefore, this study aimed to make comparisons and to explore whether erythrocytopenia and hemoglobin (Hb) reduction could influence RDW level and its association with conventional inflammatory or immune markers in RA, AS and OA.
A total of 222 patients with RA, 150 with AS, 78 with OA and 126 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled. Clinical and laboratory data of all subjects were extracted from electronically stored medical records.
Increased RDW level was found only in RA patients and showed significant diagnostic value for RA. It was much higher in those with erythrocytopenia and Hb reduction. However, those without Hb reduction did not show significant difference of RDW from HC. RDW positively correlated with CRP and ESR respectively in RA and OA patients. However, when the patients were divided into Hb reduction and non-Hb reduction groups, the correlations became insignificant.
RDW level is increased only in RA patients, but not in those with AS and OA. However, increased RDW and its association with CRP may be mainly due to Hb reduction. Therefore, whether RDW could be used as useful inflammatory index for RA, AS and OA remains to be evaluated.
迄今为止，尚无系统性比较类风湿关节炎（RA）、强直性脊柱炎（AS）和骨关节炎（OA）患者红细胞分布宽度（RDW）的研究。因此，本研究旨在进行比较，并探讨红细胞减少症和血红蛋白（Hb）降低是否会影响RA、AS和OA患者的RDW水平及其与传统炎症或免疫标志物的相关性。
共纳入222例RA患者、150例AS患者、78例OA患者和126例健康对照者（HC）。所有受试者的临床和实验室数据均从电子存储的病历中提取。
仅在RA患者中发现RDW水平升高，且对RA具有显著诊断价值。红细胞减少症和Hb降低的患者中RDW水平更高。然而，未出现Hb降低的患者的RDW与HC无显著差异。在RA和OA患者中，RDW分别与CRP和ESR呈正相关。然而，当将患者分为Hb降低组和未降低组时，这种相关性变得不显著。
仅RA患者的RDW水平升高，AS和OA患者则不然。然而，RDW升高及其与CRP的相关性可能主要归因于Hb降低。因此，RDW是否可作为RA、AS和OA有用的炎症指标仍有待评估。
