What is RDW RBC in blood test?

A red cell distribution width (RDW) test is a measurement of the range in the volume and size of your red blood cells (erythrocytes). Red blood cells move oxygen from your lungs to every cell in your body. Your cells need oxygen to grow, reproduce, and stay healthy.

Does high RDW indicate cancer?

Elevated RDW was associated with overall cancer mortality. To a certain extent, RDW may predict the risk of mortality in patients with cancers; it was an independent prognostic indicator of short-term mortality after hospitalization in cancer patients.

Does leukemia cause high RDW?

The obtained results have shown that RDW may be considered as a potential CLL prognostic marker. Elevated RDW level at the moment of diagnosis was associated with advanced disease and presence of other poor prognostic factors.

How do you fix high RDW?

1) Eat a Balanced Diet. Eat a healthy and nutritious diet in order to prevent nutrient deficiencies. It is important that your diet includes enough iron, folate, and vitamin B12 [8, 11, 12]. Correcting nutritional deficiencies can help improve red blood cell production and decrease RDW levels.

Is a high red blood count bad?

If too many RBCs are produced and released, then you can develop polycythemia. This can cause thicker blood, decreased blood flow and related problems, such as headache, dizziness, problems with vision, and even excessive clotting or heart attack.

What causes High RDW on a blood count?

High RDW levels can also be caused due to the use of performance enhancing drugs like anabolic steroids or protein injections. Dehydration can also be another factor that contributes to high RDW. In such a case, the plasma gets decreased and as a result the count of red blood cells increases.

What is RDW in blood test and what does a High RDW count mean?

Interpretation. RDW can be used as a guidance for flagging samples that may need manual peripheral blood smear examination, since elevated RDW may indicate red cell fragmentation, agglutination, or dimorphic red blood cell populations.

What is normal blood count RDW?

Certain disorders, however, cause a significant variation in cell size. Higher RDW values indicate greater variation in size. Normal reference range of RDW-CV in human red blood cells is 11.5-14.5%.

What does High RDW blood mean?

High RDW means that your red blood cells vary in size more than most people’s. One possible reason for this is a genetic variant which alters the shape of your red blood cells.