Red cell distribution width reflects the early stage residual renal function in peritoneal dialysis patients

It has been verified that the red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is related to renal function. This study aimed to investigate the association of RDW with the residual renal function in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. The patients were categorized into three groups according to the quartiles of their baseline RDWs. The correlations between RDW and clinical parameters, dialysis adequacy, and residual renal function were analyzed. The clinical data, PD prescription and dialysis adequacy of 54 uremic patients on continuous ambulatory PD were collected. All the statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences program version 17.0. The baseline RDW of the patients was 13.56% ± 1.36%. No significant differences in the other indexes [hemoglobin, albumin, alkaline phosphatase, intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), urea and creatinine] among the three groups were found. One month after beginning PD, the correlation between the RDW and the residual renal function has not been found in the multivariate regression model adjusted for the hemoglobin, albumin, and leukocyte. Three months after beginning the PD, a significant difference between Group 2 and Group 3 in iPTH was found. Multivariate regression analysis showed that the elevated RDW is associated with the declined residual glomerular filtration rate (heart rate = -0.587, 95% confidence interval -1.080 ~ -0.093) for the corresponding period after PD, adjusted for the hemoglobin, albumin, and leukocyte. This study showed that the RDW reflected the residual renal function in the corresponding period after PD in the PD patients.