Red blood cell distribution width in newborns: preliminary report

• Anna L. Karpova
• Nikolay Yu. Karpov
• Aleksey V. Mostovoy
• N.A. Kucherova
• I.A. Kropf

Abstract

Background. Red Blood Cell Distribution Width (RDW) – represents the heterogeneity of red blood cell volume, and, being essentially as integral index, is a quantitative assessment of anisocytosis. Many diseases are accompanied by significant changes in the size and volume of red blood cells, thus, now in the medical literature RDW regarded as a universal marker and a harbinger of numerous pathological processes. RDW is considered not only as an indicator used in the laboratory assessment of anemia, but also as a marker of inflammation, cancer pathology, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and the cardiovascular system. However, the number of studies in infants focused on estimating of diagnostic and prognostic significance of RDW is extremely limited.

Purpose: to determine normative ranges of RDW in fullterm newborn infants in the early neonatal period and evaluate its diagnostic value.

Materials and methods. A retrospective study. Total analyzed the medical records of 75 full-term newborns. The children were divided into 2 groups. The first group included healthy neonates – 52 children, the second – infants who were met laboratory criteria of infection from the first days of life – 23 children. Sampling of peripheral blood for clinical laboratory testing was performed at the age of 1–2 days of life.

Results. Average value of RDW in healthy full-term newborns in our study corresponded to 13,92%. In infants with laboratory criteria that confirm presence of an infectious process, RDW was significantly higher than in healthy children, and averaged 16,35% (p<0,001). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups for the average values of main indices of red blood cells, and there was no statistically significant correlation between RDW and levels of erythrocytes and hematocrit.

Conclusions. RDW may be used in newborns as a marker of infection. However, the clinical significance of this criterion in newborns should be the subject of further research, particularly in infectious pathology.

Keywords:newborns, erythrocytes, red blood cell distribution width

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