Elevated red cell distribution width and cardiovascular mortality in ASCVD risk cohorts: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III)

• Published in: Reviews in cardiovascular medicine 2022-02, Vol.23 (2), p.51-51
• Main Authors: Katamreddy, Adarsh, Kokkinidis, Damianos G, Miles, Jeremy, Siasos, Gerasimos, Giannakoulas, George, Faillace, Robert T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Atherosclerosis; atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ascvd); Cardiovascular Diseases - diagnosis; cardiovascular mortality; cardiovascular prognosis; Erythrocyte Indices; Humans; Middle Aged; Nutrition Surveys; Proportional Hazards Models; red cell distribution width; Risk Factors
• ISSN: 1530-6550
• DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2302051

Although red cell distribution width (RDW) is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality, the relationship between an elevated RDW and cardiovascular mortality among various ASCVD risk groups is unknown. We utilized the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III, which uses a complex, multistage, clustered design to represent the civilian, community-based US population. Out of 30,818 subjects whose data were entered during the 1988-1994 period, 8884 subjects over 40 years of age, representing a weighted sample of 85,323,902 patients, were selected after excluding missing variables. The ACC/AHA pooled cohort equation (PCE) was used to calculate atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk, and low (20%) risk groups were created. The primary endpoint was cardiovascular mortality. A multivariate proportional hazard regression was performed using the Fine and Gray (sub-distribution) method. Red cell distribution (RDW), C-reactive protein (CRP), age, sex, race, diabetes, smoking status, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and chronic kidney disease (CKD) were used as covariates in each of the ACC/AHA pooled cohort risk groups. The adjusted hazard ratios for RDW >14 (Normal range 12.5-14.5 %) as compared to 14 vs.