@article{Duarte-Gamas_Pereira-Neves_Fragão-Marques_Vilaça_Rocha-Neves_Teixeira_2020, place={Matosinhos, Portugal}, title={THE ROLE OF THE RED CELL DISTRIBUTION WIDTH IN CAROTID ARTERY DISEASE}, volume={16}, url={https://acvjournal.com/index.php/acv/article/view/324}, DOI={10.48750/acv.324}, abstractNote={<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Carotid disease affects 3-4% of the general population. The association between systemic low-grade inflammation and atherosclerosis has led to the study of blood biomarkers, such as red blood cell distribution width – coefficient of variation (RDW-CV), and their role in the pathophysiology and prognosis of carotid artery disease. The aim of this study was to review the literature regarding the relevance of RDW-CV in carotid artery disease.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p><strong>Methods: </strong>A Medline search was performed in order to identify publications focused on the physiopathology of RDW-CV and its impact in patients with carotid artery disease.</p> <p><strong>Results: </strong>Increased RDW-CV was associated with increased carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in several studies. It was associated with plaque presence and progression. One study demonstrated an independent association between all-cause and cardiovascular-related mortality in patients with asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis and increased RDW-CV.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>RDW-CV is a widely available, easy to measure, and low-cost marker that seems to be associated with subclinical carotid atherosclerosis. However, further studies are needed in order to determine its clinical relevance in this setting.</p>}, number={3}, journal={Angiologia e Cirurgia Vascular}, author={Duarte-Gamas, Luis and Pereira-Neves, António and Fragão-Marques, Mariana and Vilaça, Isabel and Rocha-Neves, João P. and Teixeira, José}, year={2020}, month={Dec.}, pages={167–170} }