Relationship between red cell distribution width and serum C reactive protein levels in maintenance hemodialysis patients

INTRODUCTION: We aimed to investigate the relationship between RDW and serum CRP levels in maintenance hemodialysis patients.
METHODS: We enrolled 112 eligible maintenance hemodialysis patients in this retrospective study. Two groups were identified according to red cell distribution width (RDW) values: patients with normal RDW (RDW < 14.5%) and patients with elevated RDW (RDW ≥ 14.5%). Spearman correlation analysis and linear regression analysis were used to investigate the relationship between the study parameters.
RESULTS: The only statistically significant difference between two groups was serum CRP levels (p: 0.007). Serum albumin levels had significant but weak inverse correlation with serum CRP levels (r: -0.257, p: 0.006). RDW values had significant but weak positive correlation with serum CRP levels (r: 0.289, p: 0.002). We did not found a significant correlation between hemoglobin levels and serum CRP levels and serum ferritin levels and serum CRP levels (p: 0.090 and p: 0.664, respectively). We made multivariate linear regression analysis and RDW was detected as the only independently associated factor for serum CRP levels (p: 0.028).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: We found that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between CRP and RDW in maintenance hemodialysis patients. We also showed a significant relationship between RDW and serum CRP levels. We concluded that RDW can be used as an inflammatory marker for hemodialysis patients.