Comparison of Haemoglobin, RDW, RBC Values among Diabetes Mellitus and Normal Individuals

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a disorder characterized by hyperglycemia. It has been reported that 75% of the primary cause for mortality in diabetes mellitus patients is cardiovascular disease which is caused by hyperglycemia. Erythrocytes of diabetes mellitus patients have a shorter life span than normal. Red cell distribution width (RDW) is a measure of the heterogeneity of the volume of red blood cells (Red Blood Cells). High RDW has various adverse outcomes. The study aims to compare Haemoglobin, RDW and RBC values among diabetes mellitus and normal individuals.

Materials and Methods: Blood samples of 20 patients with and without diabetes were collected from outpatients visiting Saveetha dental college and hospitals. The results of the following parameters Haemoglobin, RDW, RBC were analyzed using Independent t Test in SPSS software. The statistical significance (P value) was set at 0.05.

Results: It is evident that there is a higher incidence of diabetes among the male population compared to females which result in higher RBC and Haemoglobin values. The RDW value is also reported to be higher in diabetic patients than non-diabetic patients. For Haemoglobin p value was 0.984 (>0.05), RDW p value was 0.180 (>0.05), RBC p value was 0.680 (>0.05). The p values were >0.05 which is statistically not significant.

Conclusion: The Hemoglobin, RBC and RDW values are higher for diabetic patients than non-diabetic. Higher RDW has various adverse effects such as cardiovascular disease which may cause mortality in diabetes mellitus patients.