ArticlePloS one2017
Red blood cell distribution width: Genetic evidence for aging pathways in 116,666 volunteers.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 73 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genetic Variation and Hot Flashes: A Systematic Review.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2020Pooled it
- From Polygenic Scores to Precision Medicine in Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2020Pooled it
- Red cell distribution width and common disease onsets in 240,477 healthy volunteers followed for up to 9 years.PloS one · 2018Trial
- Reference Range of Red Cell Distribution Width-to-Albumin Ratio in Healthy US Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.BioMed research international · 2026Article
- Age-Related Human Adaptation to Extreme Climatic Factors and Environmental Conditions.Biology · 2025Article
- Red Blood Cells and Human Aging: Exploring Their Biomarker Potential.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Association between red cell distribution width/serum albumin ratio and Parkinson's disease.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Red cell distribution width: a potential marker of reduced femoral neck bone mineral density in men and postmenopausal women.Endocrine · 2025Article
- Associations between age, red cell distribution width and 180-day and 1-year mortality in giant cell arteritis patients: mediation analyses and machine learning in a cohort study.Arthritis research & therapy · 2025Article
- Article
- Assessing the kinetics of oxygen-unloading from red cells using FlowScore, a flow-cytometric proxy of the functional quality of blood.EBioMedicine · 2025Article
- Association between RDW-SD and prognosis across glycemic status in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2024Article
- Article
- Association between elevated preoperative red cell distribution width and mortality after brain tumor craniotomy.Neurosurgical review · 2024Article
- Reference intervals of complete blood count parameters in the adult western Sudanese population.BMC research notes · 2024Article
- Anemia, hemoglobin concentration and cognitive function in the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India-Harmonized Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia (LASI-DAD) and the Health and Retirement Study.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- Blood-based biological ageing and red cell distribution width are associated with prevalent Parkinson's disease: findings from a large Italian population cohort.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Sex-Specific Features of the Correlation between GWAS-Noticeable Polymorphisms and Hypertension in Europeans of Russia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- A time-series analysis of blood-based biomarkers within a 25-year longitudinal dolphin cohort.PLoS computational biology · 2023Article
- Red cell distribution width and its polygenic score in relation to mortality and cardiometabolic outcomes.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
18 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionVariability in red blood cell volumes (distribution width, RDW) increases with age and is strongly predictive of mortality, incident coronary heart disease and cancer. We investigated inherited genetic variation associated with RDW in 116,666 UK Biobank human volunteers.
resultsA large proportion RDW is explained by genetic variants (29%), especially in the older group (60+ year olds, 33.8%, <50 year olds, 28.4%). RDW was associated with 194 independent genetic signals; 71 are known for conditions including autoimmune disease, certain cancers, BMI, Alzheimer's disease, longevity, age at menopause, bone density, myositis, Parkinson's disease, and age-related macular degeneration. Exclusion of anemic participants did not affect the overall findings. Pathways analysis showed enrichment for telomere maintenance, ribosomal RNA, and apoptosis. The majority of RDW-associated signals were intronic (119 of 194), including SNP rs6602909 located in an intron of oncogene GAS6, an eQTL in whole blood.
conclusionsAlthough increased RDW is predictive of cardiovascular outcomes, this was not explained by known CVD or related lipid genetic risks, and a RDW genetic score was not predictive of incident disease. The predictive value of RDW for a range of negative health outcomes may in part be due to variants influencing fundamental pathways of aging.
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