Prognostic value of red blood cell distribution width in non-small cell lung cancer treated with anti-programmed cell death-1 antibody

Abstract

Background/Aim: Red cell distribution width (RDW) has been reported to reflect the inflammation and nutrition status and predict prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with anti-programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) antibody. The aim of this study was to analyze the correlation between RDW and prognosis of NSCLC patients. Patients and Methods: We collected retrospective data on consecutive NSCLC patients treated with anti-PD-1 antibody from December 2015 to April 2018 at the Kobe University Hospital, Japan. Results: Forty-seven patients were treated. Patients with RDW ≥16% had a significantly shorter OS (p=0.010) compared to those with RDW <16%. In multivariate analysis, RDW ≥16% was an independent factor predicting poor prognosis (p=0.019). Conclusion: Pre-treatment RDW ≥16% is an indicator of poor prognosis. RDW is an inexpensive, convenient, and routinely available marker of prognosis.