Observational studyPloS one2018
Biological pathways underlying the association of red cell distribution width and adverse clinical outcome: Results of a prospective cohort study.
Observational study in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Association between Red Blood Cell Distribution Width and Mortality Risk after Hip Fracture: A Meta-Analysis.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Pooled it
- Red cell distribution width-to-albumin ratio predicts mortality in critically ill patients with gastrointestinal bleeding: A retrospective cohort study with external validation.The Journal of international medical research · 2026Article
- The Prognostic Role of Hematological Markers in Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Enhancing Risk Stratification.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Nonlinear Association Between Red Cell Distribution Width-to-Albumin Ratio and Retinopathy: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025Article
- The role of red cell distribution width in predicting 7-day in-hospital mortality in patients with acute ischemic stroke.Northern clinics of Istanbul · 2025Article
- Prognostic Value of the Red Blood Cell Distribution Width-to-Albumin Ratio in Critically Ill Older Patients with Acute Kidney Injury: A Retrospective Database Study.Emergency medicine international · 2023Article
- Empowering frail older adults: multicomponent elastic-band exercises and BCAA supplementation unleash physical health and preserve haematological biomarkers.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2023Article
- All-cause and liver-related mortality risk factors in excessive drinkers: Analysis of data from the UK biobank.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2022Article
- Article
- Exploring red cell distribution width as a biomarker for treatment efficacy in home mechanical ventilation.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2022Observational
- Red cell distribution width is a predictor of all-cause mortality in hospitalized dogs.Journal of veterinary emergency and critical care (San Antonio, Tex. : 2001) · 2022Article
- Red blood cell distribution width as a predictor of mortality among patients regularly visiting the nephrology outpatient clinic.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- RDW Value may Increase the Diagnostic Accuracy of MPS.Sisli Etfal Hastanesi tip bulteni · 2021Article
- Red Cell Distribution Width as a Predictor of Functional Outcome in Rehabilitation of Older Stroke Patients.Annals of geriatric medicine and research · 2020Article
- min-SIA: a Lightweight Algorithm to Predict the Risk of 6-Month Mortality at the Time of Hospital Admission.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Article
- Clonal Hematopoiesis and Premalignant Diseases.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine · 2020Review
- Red blood cell distribution width is associated with mortality after acute ischemic stroke: a cohort study and systematic review.Annals of translational medicine · 2020Article
- Elevated Red Cell Distribution Width Is Independently Associated With a Higher Frailty Risk Among 2,932 Community-Dwelling Older Adults.Frontiers in medicine · 2020Article
- Can we assess the advancements of gallbladder cancer using red blood cell distribution width?Medicine · 2019Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRed cell distribution width (RDW) predicts disease outcome in several patient populations, but its prognostic value in addition to other disease parameters in unselected medical inpatients remains unclear. Our aim was to investigate the association of admission RDW levels and mortality adjusted for several disease pathways in unselected medical patients from a previous multicenter study.
methodsWe included consecutive adult, medical patients at the time point of hospital admission through the emergency department into this observational, cohort study. The primary endpoint was mortality at 30-day. To study association of admission RDW and outcomes, we calculated regression analysis with step-wise inclusion of clinical and laboratory parameters from different biological pathways.
resultsThe 30-day mortality of the 4273 included patients was 5.6% and increased from 1.4% to 14.3% from the lowest to the highest RDW quartile. There was a strong association of RDW and mortality in unadjusted analysis (OR 1.32; 95%CI 1.27-1.39, p<0.001). RDW was strongly correlated with different pathways including inflammation (coefficient of determination (R2) 0.30; p<0.001), nutrition (R2 0.20; p<0.001) and blood diseases (R2 0.30; p<0.001 The association was eliminated after including different biological pathways into the models with the fully adjusted regression model showing an OR of 1.02 (95%CI 0.93-1.12; p = 0.664) for the association of RDW and mortality. Similar effects were found for other outcomes including intensive care unit admission and hospital readmission.
conclusionOur data suggests that RDW is a strong surrogate marker of mortality in unselected medical inpatients with most of the prognostic information being explained by other disease factors. The strong correlation of RDW and different biological pathways such as chronic inflammation, malnutrition and blood disease suggest that RDW may be viewed as an unspecific and general "chronic disease prognostic marker".
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