Elevated red blood cell distribution width as a simple prognostic factor in patients with symptomatic multiple...

Area of Science:

• Hematology
• Oncology
• Clinical Biomarkers

Background:

• Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is an inflammatory biomarker.
• Multiple myeloma (MM) is characterized by an inflammatory microenvironment.
• The prognostic role of RDW in MM remains understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between RDW and clinical characteristics in symptomatic MM patients.
• To evaluate RDW as a prognostic factor for treatment response and survival outcomes in MM.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of 146 symptomatic MM patients with RDW data at diagnosis.
• Comparison of patient characteristics and outcomes between high RDW (>14.5%) and normal RDW (≤14.5%) groups.
• Correlation analysis of RDW with MM prognostic factors and survival endpoints (PFS, OS).

Main Results:

• RDW correlated significantly with hemoglobin, MM stage, β 2-microglobulin, M-protein, bone marrow plasma cells, and cellularity.
• Complete response rates were higher in the normal-RDW group.
• The normal-RDW group demonstrated significantly better progression-free survival (PFS) than the high-RDW group (24.2 vs. 17.0 months).
• Elevated RDW was identified as a poor prognostic factor for PFS in multivariate analysis.

Conclusions:

• Elevated RDW at diagnosis is a simple, readily available biomarker in symptomatic MM.
• RDW may reflect systemic inflammation and serves as a predictor of poorer PFS in MM patients.
• RDW's prognostic value warrants further investigation in MM management.