Background: Correlation between red cell distribution width (RDW) and chronic inflammation was observed, although studies focused on value of RDW for assessing disease activity in Crohn's disease (CD) are limited.
Methods: This is a prospective study. RDW, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and white blood cell count were measured in 100 patients with CD on admission and 102 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers. Value of these markers for assessing disease activity in CD was investigated.
Results: RDW was significantly higher in patients with active CD than in inactive patients (P < 0.05). The optimal cutoff value for RDW was 15.6% in differentiating active from inactive disease, with sensitivity and specificity of 94.2% and 56.3%, respectively (area under the curve = 0.743). The overall accuracy of RDW in detecting active CD was 76.0%, which is higher than that of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (68.0%) and white blood cell count (51.0%) but lower than that of C-reactive protein (78.0%).
Conclusions: RDW was elevated in patients with active CD in comparison with patients in remission. As a cost-effective tool, RDW may assist in determining the disease activity of CD.