← brief for 2026-09-08 · Slowing decline

Red blood cell distribution width is an indicator of physiological dysregulation and reveals the relationship between biomarkers and health status in hemodialysis patients

Preprint C Not peer reviewed Observational

Key takeaways

Researchers looked at 1,216 people on long-term dialysis over 9 years, using 143,475 blood samples. They found that red blood cell distribution width, a routine measure of how much red blood cells vary in size, tracks a person's overall health and matches how much 22 other blood markers swing up and down over time. High values go with worse outcomes and higher risk of death. This is an observational study, so it shows a link, not proof that this measure causes anything, and it has not yet been peer reviewed.

Source

Preprint · medRxiv nephrology preprints · 2026-09-08
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.04.26362306v1?rss=1