Association of red blood cell distribution width levels with severity of coronary artery disease in patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of the levels of red blood cell distribution width [RDW] with the severity of atherosclerosis and to determine whether or not the RDW level on admission is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction [NSTEMI]. Materials and A total of 335 consecutive patients with NSTEMI were enrolled in this study. The patients were divided into high [n = 105] and low [n = 230] SYNTAX groups. The high SYNTAX group was defined as patients with a value in the third tertile [SYNTAX score, SXscore >/=12], while the low SYNTAX group was defined as those with a value in the lower 2 tertiles [SXscore <12]. The high RDW group [n = 152] was defined as patients with RDW >14.25% and the low RDW group [n = 183] as those with RDW ?14.25%. All-cause mortality was followed up to 38 months. The mean follow-up period was 18 +/- 11 months. The RDW levels of patients were significantly higher in the high SYNTAX group than in the low SYNTAX group [15.2 +/- 1.8 vs. 14.2 +/- 1.2, p < 0.001]. Pearson's coefficients were used to determine the degree of association between RDW levels and SXscore and also between RDW levels and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. There was a significant correlation between RDW levels and SXscore [r = 0.460, p < 0.001]. Also, there was a significant correlation between RDW levels and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [r = 0.180, p = 0.001]. All-cause mortality rate was not significantly different between the high and low RDW groups [log-rank, p = 0.621]. RDW levels were independently associated with high SXscore but were not associated with long-term mortality in NSTEMI patients