Objective:

To establish the diagnostic utility of red cell distribution width in pregnant women with preeclampsia.

Methods:

A case-control study was done at Hospital Central “Dr. Urquinaona”, Maracaibo, Venezuela. A total of 180 patients were selected. Ninety preeclamptic patients were selected as the study group (group A) and 90 healthy normotensive pregnant women with the same age and body mass index as the study group, were selected as controls (group B). General characteristics, red cell distribution width values and diagnostic efficacy were determined.

Results:

There was a statistically significant difference in red cell distribution width between patients in group A (14.94 ± 2.57 %)and patients in group B: (14.03 ± 2.02 %; p < 0.009). There was no significant correlation with systolic and diastolic blood pressure values (p = ns). A cutoff value of 14.5 % had an area under the curve of 0.619; sensitivity 60.0 %; specificity 53.3 %; positive predictive value 56.3 % and negative predictive value 57.1 %; with diagnostic accuracy of 56.7 %.

Conclusion:

Red cell distribution width values are not useful to discriminate the diagnosis of preeclampsia in pregnant women, although preeclamptic patients had significantly higher values when compared with healthy normotensive pregnant women.