Letter to the Editor Click here to view the article Letter to the Editor by S. Balta
doi: 10.1111/joim.12181
Response to Letter to the Editor ‘Red cell distribution width in patients with atrial fibrillation’ Dear Sir, We thank the authors for their acknowledgement and interest in our study [1]. RDW is a new and easily available risk marker for adverse cardiovascular outcomes, and we agree that this may encourage a wider use in clinical practice. As pointed out by Balta et al. [2], the underlying causal links are unclear. The causal links could hypothetically involve some of the factors mentioned by Balta et al. [2], but also properties of the red cells per se. Dr Balta et al. also ask for clarification of time frame for analysis of RDW. The analyses were performed consecutively at the time of the screening examination. The samples of heparinized blood were delivered one by one to the central laboratory of Malm€ o Hospital for analysis. The samples were immediately analysed using the SYSMEX K1000 fully automated assay. The analysis took 45 s. Normally, it took 10–20 min from blood sampling to analysis. The samples were stored in room temperature before analysis. Hence, it seems unlikely that the analytical procedures could be related to future atrial fibrillation and influence the results.
544
ª 2013 The Association for the Publication of the Journal of Internal Medicine
Conflict of interest statement No conflict of interest to declare. S. Adamsson Eryd1; Y. Borne1; O. Melander1; M. Persson1; J. Gustav Smith2; B. Hedblad1 & G. Engstr€om1 From the 1Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malm€ o; and 2Department of Cardiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
References 1 Adamsson Eryd S, Borne Y, Melander O et al. Red blood cell distribution width is associated with incidence of atrial fibrillation. J Intern Med 2014; 275: 84–92. 2 Balta S, Demir M, Kucuk U, Arslan Z, Demirkol S. Red cell distribution width in patients with atrial fibrillation. J Intern Med 2013. Correspondence: Samuel Adamsson Eryd, Cardiovascular Epidemiology research group, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Sk ane University Hospital, Clinical Research Centre, Building 60, Floor 13, Jan Waldenstr€ oms gata 35, 20502, Malm€ o, Sweden. (fax: +46 40 391340; e-mail: samuel.adamsson_eryd@ med.lu.se).
doi: 10.1111/joim.12181
Response to Letter to the Editor ‘Red cell distribution width in patients with atrial fibrillation’ Dear Sir, We thank the authors for their acknowledgement and interest in our study [1]. RDW is a new and easily available risk marker for adverse cardiovascular outcomes, and we agree that this may encourage a wider use in clinical practice. As pointed out by Balta et al. [2], the underlying causal links are unclear. The causal links could hypothetically involve some of the factors mentioned by Balta et al. [2], but also properties of the red cells per se. Dr Balta et al. also ask for clarification of time frame for analysis of RDW. The analyses were performed consecutively at the time of the screening examination. The samples of heparinized blood were delivered one by one to the central laboratory of Malm€ o Hospital for analysis. The samples were immediately analysed using the SYSMEX K1000 fully automated assay. The analysis took 45 s. Normally, it took 10–20 min from blood sampling to analysis. The samples were stored in room temperature before analysis. Hence, it seems unlikely that the analytical procedures could be related to future atrial fibrillation and influence the results.
544
ª 2013 The Association for the Publication of the Journal of Internal Medicine
Conflict of interest statement No conflict of interest to declare. S. Adamsson Eryd1; Y. Borne1; O. Melander1; M. Persson1; J. Gustav Smith2; B. Hedblad1 & G. Engstr€om1 From the 1Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malm€ o; and 2Department of Cardiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
References 1 Adamsson Eryd S, Borne Y, Melander O et al. Red blood cell distribution width is associated with incidence of atrial fibrillation. J Intern Med 2014; 275: 84–92. 2 Balta S, Demir M, Kucuk U, Arslan Z, Demirkol S. Red cell distribution width in patients with atrial fibrillation. J Intern Med 2013. Correspondence: Samuel Adamsson Eryd, Cardiovascular Epidemiology research group, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Sk ane University Hospital, Clinical Research Centre, Building 60, Floor 13, Jan Waldenstr€ oms gata 35, 20502, Malm€ o, Sweden. (fax: +46 40 391340; e-mail: samuel.adamsson_eryd@ med.lu.se).
