Causes of low red blood cell distribution width

Erythrocyte distribution width is usually used together with the mean volume of red blood cells for morphological classification of anemia. Erythrocyte distribution width is a parameter that reflects the specificity of peripheral blood erythrocyte volume and is important for the diagnosis of anemia. Normal adults have an erythrocyte volume distribution width <0.15 (<15%). A low erythrocyte distribution width indicates that the sample blood erythrocyte morphology is uniform in size and very neat. When the average erythrocyte volume is increased: if the erythrocyte distribution width is normal, it is large cell homogeneous anemia, such as partial aplastic anemia; if the erythrocyte distribution width is increased, it is large cell non-homogeneous anemia, such as megaloblastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. When the average volume of erythrocytes is normal: if the width of erythrocyte distribution is normal, it is normal cell homogeneous anemia, such as acute hemorrhagic anemia; if the width of erythrocyte distribution is increased, it is normal cell non-homogeneous anemia, such as aplastic anemia and paroxysmal sleep hemoglobinuria. When the average volume of erythrocytes is reduced: if the distribution width of erythrocytes is normal, it is small cell homogeneous anemia, such as dyscrasia, spherocytosis, etc.; if the distribution width of erythrocytes is increased, it is small cell non-homogeneous anemia, such as iron deficiency anemia. Therefore, the erythrocyte distribution width is mainly used for morphological classification of anemia. A low erythrocyte distribution width indicates that the sample blood has uniform erythrocyte morphological size.