Higher Red Blood Cell Distribution Width Is Associated With the Metabolic Syndrome

A high level of erythrocyte distribution width (RDW) is a novel prognostic marker that may reflect an underlying inflammatory state (1–3). Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a chronic inflammatory disorder (4). We investigated the potential association between high levels of RDW and MetS. This cross-sectional study is part of the Ibermutuamur CArdiovascular RIsk Assessment (ICARIA) plan. A detailed description has been published elsewhere (5). A total of 217,567 workers (73.1% male, mean age 35.8 years) who underwent a routine medical checkup were included in the study. The Adult Treatment Panel III (ATPIII, 2001) definition for MetS was used. The mean RDW in the whole sample was 13.4% (SD 0.82%; range 10.1–33.4%; 75th percentile 14.0%). The …