Relationships among red cell distribution width, anemia, and interleukin-6 in adult congenital heart disease.
BACKGROUND
Red cell distribution width (RDW) is known to be associated with anemia and mortality in cardiovascular diseases, while anemia itself is related to increased mortality. RDW may also be related to cytokine activation. We investigated the potential of RDW to predict anemia-adjusted mortality in patients with adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) and we evaluated the relationships among RDW, anemia, and interleukin-6 (IL-6).


RESULTS
This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study. Blood RDW and IL-6 levels were measured in 144 patients with ACHD (median age [interquartile range (IQR)], 28 [22-36] years), 84% in New York Heart Association class I/II. During a mean 4.8-year follow-up, 21 (15%) patients died of cardiovascular causes. Elevated RDW (>15.0%) correlated significantly with mortality risk in a univariate analysis (RDW hazard ratio [HR]: 1.570; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.208-2.040 per 1 standard deviation increase; P=0.001). Elevated RDW levels correlated significantly with increased anemia-adjusted mortality (adjusted RDW HR: 1.912; 95% CI: 1.369-2.670; P<0.001). The high RDW group had significantly elevated serum IL-6 levels (RDW >15%, median [IQR], 3.7 [0.9-13.9] pg/ml vs. RDW ≤15%, 1.4 [0.8-2.5 pg/ml]; P=0.001), as did patients with anemia (anemia, 1.9 [0.9-5.2] pg/ml vs. no anemia, 1.4 [0.8-2.5 pg/ml]; P=0.021).


CONCLUSIONS
Elevation of RDW may be related with increased IL-6 and anemia-adjusted cardiovascular mortality in patients with ACHD.
Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Tokyo Women's Medical University.
Kenji
K
Miyamoto
Kei
K
Inai
Daiji
D
Takeuchi
Tokuko
T
Shinohara
Toshio
T
Nakanishi
D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies
C508600:IL6 protein, human; D015850:Interleukin-6