ABSTRACT

Objective: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a measure of red blood cell size hetero geneity. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the RDW level and the characteristics of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations.

Methods: The records of the hospitalised COPD patients were evaluated retrospectively. The demographic characteristics, duration of follow-up and the numbers of exacerbations and hospitalisations, duration of the hospital stay, need of non-invasive mechanic ventilation (NIMV) or intensive care unit (ICU) and laboratory findings were recorded.

Results: There were 35 women (18.5%), 154 men (81.5%), Totaling 189 patients whose mean age was 67.4 ± 10.6 years. The mean durations of follow-up and hospitalisation were, respec tively, 2.85 ± 2.5 years and 8.5 ± 5.4 days. Forty-one of the patients (22%) were current smok ers and 115 of them (61.8%) were ex-smokers. Nearly one-third of the patients (34.9%) had increased RDW levels. When the patients with an increased RDW level compared to normal ones, no statistically significant difference was found with respect to the gender, smoking his tory, smoking pack-years, numbers of the exacerbation and hospitalisation, duration of hos pital stay and need of NIMV or ICU. However, it was found that the presence of exitus was significantly higher in patients with an increased RDW level (p = 0.02).

Conclusion: This study suggested that an increased level of RDW might be related with increased mortality in COPD patients. Further long-term prospective studies with healthy controls and COPD patients in both stable and exacerbation periods are needed in order to evaluate clinical significance of these findings.