Value of red blood cell distribution width in prediction of diastolic dysfunction in cirrhotic cardiomyopathy.

Background: Clinical diagnosis of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy (CCM) often encounters challenges of lack of timeliness and disease severity, with the commonly positive indicator usually associated with advanced heart failure.

Aim: To explore suitable biomarkers for early CCM prediction.

Methods: A total of 505 eligible patients were enrolled in this study and divided into four groups according to Child-Pugh classification: Group I, Class A without CCM (105 cases); Group II, Class A with CCM (175 cases); Group III, Class B with CCM (139 cases); and Group IV, Class C with CCM (86 cases). Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to determine whether red blood cell distribution width (RDW) was an independent risk factor for CCM risk. The relationships between RDW and Child-Pugh scores, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores, and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) were analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis.

Results: A constant RDW increase was evident from Group I to Group IV (12.54 ± 0.85, 13.29 ± 1.19, 14.30 ± 1.96, and 16.25 ± 2.13, respectively). Pearson correlation analysis showed that RDW was positively correlated with Child-Pugh scores ( = 0.642, 0.001), MELD scores ( = 0.592, < 0.001), and NT-proBNP ( = 0.715, < 0.001). Furthermore, between Group I and Group II, RDW was the only significant index (odds ratio: 2.175, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.549-3.054, < 0.001), and it reached statistical significance when examined by ROC curve analysis (area under the curve: 0.686, 95%CI: 0.624-0.748, < 0.001).

Conclusion: RDW can serve as an effective and accessible clinical indicator for the prediction of diastolic dysfunction in CCM, in which a numerical value of more than 13.05% may indicate an increasing CCM risk.