Red Blood Cell Distribution Width Is Associated With The Presence And Severity Of Myasthenia Gravis

Despite the fact that the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis (MG) has not been fully elucidated, the presence of inflammation and the modulation of the immune response by cytokines could be a key factor in the pathogenesis of MG. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and MG. Venous blood was drawn and hematological parameters were determined in 417 individuals, including 177 patients with MG and 240 healthy controls (HC). In this study, we found that patients with MG had a significantly higher admission RDW than those in the HC group (MG: 13.10 (12.60, 13.80), HC: 12.70 (12.30, 13. 20), P<0.001). In addition, our study showed that patients with higher disease activity had higher RDW levels than those with lower disease activity. Moreover, RDW was positively correlated with C-reactive protein (CRP) (r=0.609, P<0.001) and with the degree of disease severity expressed by the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) scores (r=0.185, P=0.014). A univariate analysis revealed that the RDW was a risk factor for patients with MG (OR: 1.505; 95% CI: 1.236-1.832; P<0.001). It was further demonstrated by the multivariable logistic regression analysis after adjusting for other potential confounding factors (OR: 2.017; 95% CI: 1.010-4.027; P=0.047). We found that RDW can be regarded as a new informative and inflammatory biomarker to evaluate the systemic inflammatory conditions and disability status in patients with MG.