Is it bad if your RDW is low?

A low RDW means your red blood cells are all about the same size. A high RDW means you have both very small and very large red blood cells. You may also have a “normal” RDW. A normal RDW range is 12.2\%–16.1\% for women and 11.8\%–14.5\% for men.

What does low RDW CV mean?

What if my RDW count is low? A low RDW means that the red blood cells vary little in size. This could be due to the following: Macrocytic anemia. A blood disorder in which not enough RBCs are produced, but the ones that are present are large.

What is RDW in CBC?

The red cell distribution width (RDW) test measures variation in red blood cell size or red blood cell volume as a part of a complete blood count (CBC), and it is used along with other RBC indices, especially mean corpuscular volume (MCV), to help determine the causes of anemia.

What is Microcytic anemia?

Microcytic anemia is defined as the presence of small, often hypochromic, red blood cells in a peripheral blood smear and is usually characterized by a low MCV (less than 83 micron 3). Iron deficiency is the most common cause of microcytic anemia.

What is microcytic anemia?

What does RDW CV mean?

The RDW-CV is a calculation based on both the width of the distribution curve and the mean cell size. It is calculated by dividing the standard deviation of the mean cell size by the MCV of the red cells and multiplying by 100 to convert to a percentage. A normal range for the RDW-CV is approximately 11.0 – 15.0\%.

How do you interpret RDW?

Your RDW is elevated if the range of sizes is large. This means that if on average your RBCs are small, but you also have a lot of very small cells, your RDW will be elevated. Similarly, if on average your RBCs are large, but you also have a lot of very large cells, your RDW will be elevated.

Why does iron deficiency increase RDW?

As iron deficiency progresses, decreased erythropoeisis develops. New erythrocytes are smaller, causing the RDW to increase slightly, as there is a mix of older normocytic cells with younger microcytic cells. Laboratory findings include low ferritin, low MCV, high RDW, and increased transferrin.

What lab values indicate iron deficiency anemia?

Hemoglobin of less than 13 grams per deciliter (g/dl) for men and less than 12 g/dl for women is diagnostic of anemia. In iron-deficiency anemia, red blood cells will be small in size with an MCV of less than 80 femtoliters (fL).