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DOI: 10.1160/TH14-07-0606
Red cell distribution width and carotid atherosclerosis progression The Tromsø Study
Financial support: K. G. Jebsen- Thrombosis Research and Expertise Centre (TREC) is supported by an independent grant from the K. G. Jebsen Foundation. SKB and JBH have received research grants from the Northern Norway Regional Health Authority (URL: http://www.helse-nord.no/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Publication History
Received:
15 July 2014
Accepted after major revision:
13 January 2014
Publication Date:
17 November 2017 (online)
![](https://www.thieme-connect.de/media/10.1055-s-00035024/201503/lookinside/thumbnails/10-1160-th14-07-0606-1.jpg)
Summary
Red cell distribution width (RDW), a measure of the size variability of circulating erythrocytes, is associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We aimed to investigate whether RDW was associated with progression of atherosclerotic plaques in subjects recruited from the general population. Baseline characteristics, including RDW, were collected from 4677 participants in the fourth survey of the Tromsø Study conducted in 1994/95. Prevalence of carotid plaques and total plaque area (TPA) were assessed by ultrasonographic imaging at baseline and after seven years of follow-up. Generalised linear models were used to analyse change in TPA across tertiles of RDW. Change in TPA was significantly higher across tertiles of RDW in crude analysis and in multivariable analysis adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors. The mean change in TPA increased from 5.6 mm2 (4.9–6.4) in tertile 1 (RDW ≤ 12.6 %) to 6.7 mm2 (5.9–7.6) in tertile 3 (RDW ≥ 13.3) in multivariable analysis adjusted for body mass index, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, self-reported diabetes, smoking status, platelet count, white blood cell count, and hs-CRP levels (p for trend 0.003). A 1 % increase in RDW was associated with 0.6 mm2 (0.1–1.2) increase in TPA in multivariable analysis (p=0.03). RDW was associated with progression of atherosclerosis after adjustments for traditional atherosclerotic risk factors. Our findings suggest that the link between RDW and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality may be explained by atherosclerosis.
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