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Effect of age and gender on reference intervals of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and mean red cell volume (MCV)

  • Johannes J.M.L. Hoffmann EMAIL logo , Karin C.A.M. Nabbe and Nicole M.A. van den Broek
Published/Copyright: May 9, 2015
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Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM)
From the journal Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) Volume 53 Issue 12

Abstract

Background: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) was recently shown to be age-dependent when using Sysmex XE-2100 hematology analyzers. As measuring RDW is subject to technology, we have investigated if this relation also exists when using a different hematology analyzer, Abbott CELL-DYN Sapphire. In addition, as RDW is generally expressed relative to mean red blood cell volume (MCV), we have explored how MCV influences the age-dependency of RDW.

Methods: We measured RDW and MCV in a large cohort and calculated RDW-SD (the “absolute” RDW), which does not contain MCV. For establishing reference intervals we used Bhattacharya statistics.

Results: In our study cohort of 8089 individuals we found a strong association between RDW and age, but not with gender. Also MCV showed an age-related increase over the entire age range. The conventional RDW increased by 6% from the youngest to oldest age class, whereas RDW-SD increased by nearly 15%. This difference was caused by a mean age-related increase in MCV of 6.6%. Age-dependent reference intervals were established for RDW, RDW-SD and MCV.

Conclusions: The age-dependency of RDW seems to be a universal biological feature rather than related with a single type of hematology analyzer. As not only RDW, but also MCV increases with age, we propose that future studies on the prognostic significance of RDW take its age-dependency into account and focus on RDW-SD as a potential marker of adverse events in many clinical conditions.

Keywords: age-dependency; gender-dependency; mean cell volume; red cell distribution width; reference intervals
Corresponding author: Dr. Johannes J.M.L. Hoffmann, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Abbott Diagnostics Division, Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Max-Planck-Ring 2, 65205 Wiesbaden-Delkenheim, Germany, E-mail:

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Received: 2015-2-13
Accepted: 2015-4-14
Published Online: 2015-5-9
Published in Print: 2015-11-1

©2015 by De Gruyter

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https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2015-0155
Keywords for this article
age-dependency; gender-dependency; mean cell volume; red cell distribution width; reference intervals

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Biomarkers of inflammatory bowel disease: ready for prime time?
  4. Review
  5. Discriminant indices for distinguishing thalassemia and iron deficiency in patients with microcytic anemia: a meta-analysis
  6. Mini Reviews
  7. Cell-free DNA for diagnosing myocardial infarction: not ready for prime time
  8. The Laboratory Medicine and the care of patients infected by the Ebola virus. Experience in a reference hospital of Madrid, Spain
  9. Opinion Papers
  10. Theranos phenomenon − part 2
  11. Considerations in parathyroid hormone testing
  12. Quantity quotient reporting. Comparison of various models
  13. Genetics and Molecular Diagnostics
  14. Assessing quality and functionality of DNA isolated from FFPE tissues through external quality assessment in tissue banks
  15. Influence of storage conditions and extraction methods on the quantity and quality of circulating cell-free DNA (ccfDNA): the SPIDIA-DNAplas External Quality Assessment experience
  16. Non-invasive fetal ABO genotyping in maternal plasma using real-time PCR
  17. Screening non-deletion α-thalassaemia mutations in the HBA1 and HBA2 genes by high-resolution melting analysis
  18. General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
  19. European views on patients directly obtaining their laboratory test results
  20. Diagnostic performances of clinical laboratory tests using Triton X-100 to reduce the biohazard associated with routine testing of Ebola virus-infected patients
  21. Thrombin generation, D-dimer and protein S in uncomplicated pregnancy
  22. Multi-analyte analysis of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants in human plasma using tandem mass spectrometry
  23. Second generation analysis of antinuclear antibody (ANA) by combination of screening and confirmatory testing
  24. Faecal leukocyte esterase activity is an alternative biomarker in inflammatory bowel disease
  25. Reference Values and Biological Variations
  26. Total folate and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate in the cerebrospinal fluid of children: correlation and reference values
  27. Effect of age and gender on reference intervals of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and mean red cell volume (MCV)
  28. Infectious Diseases
  29. Inosine triphosphate pyrophosphohydrolase activity: more accurate predictor for ribavirin-induced anemia in hepatitis C infected patients than ITPA genotype
  30. The ratio of calprotectin to total protein as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites
  31. Letter to the Editors
  32. Misleading high-sensitivity troponin algorithm for NSTEMI in the ESC guidelines
  33. Adjustment of serum potassium for age and platelet count. A simple step forward towards personalized medicine
  34. The impact of Tween 20 on repeatability of amyloid β and tau measurements in cerebrospinal fluid
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  36. Iohexol interference in the α2-globulin fraction of the serum protein capillary electrophoresis
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  41. Analytical assessment of the novel homocysteine liquid enzymatic assay on Beckman Coulter AU5800
  42. Immunoglobulin IgA, IgD, IgG, IgM and IgG subclass reference values in adults
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