title: Elevated red cell distribution width contributes to a poor prognosis in patients with esophageal carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The red cell distribution width (RDW) has also been reported to reliably reflect the inflammation and nutrition status and predict the prognosis across several types of cancer, however, the prognostic value of RDW in esophageal carcinoma has seldom been studied.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study was performed to assess the prognostic value of RDW in patients with esophageal carcinoma by the Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox regression proportional hazard model. All enrolled patients were divided into high RDW group (≧15%) and low RDW group (<15%) according to the detected RDW values.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Clinical and laboratory data from a total of 179 patients with esophageal carcinoma were retrieved. With a median follow-up of 21months, the high RDW group exhibited a shorter disease-free survival (DFS) (p<0.001) and an unfavorable overall survival (OS) (p<0.001) in the univariate analysis. The multivariate analysis revealed that elevated RDW at diagnosis was an independent prognostic factor for shorter PFS (p=0.043, HR=1.907, 95% CI=1.020-3.565) and poor OS (p=0.042, HR=1.895, 95% CI=1.023-3.508) after adjustment with other cancer-related prognostic factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study suggests that elevated preoperative RDW(≧15%) at the diagnosis may independently predict poorer disease-free and overall survival among patients with esophageal carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Guo-Xing
authors.initials: GX
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Lin-Jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Xiong-Jie
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Dong-Feng
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Xian-He
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Xuan-Bin
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei, China. Electronic address: fengjuncaoshiyan@126.com.
authors.forename: Feng-Jun
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Esophageal carcinoma; Prognostic factor; Red cell distribution width; Survival