Association between mean corpuscular volume and severity of coronary artery disease in the Northern Chinese population: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to explore the relationship between the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in the Northern Chinese population. METHODS: In total, 1326 patients who underwent coronary angiography from July 2015 to February 2017 were retrospectively enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Coronary artery stenosis was evaluated by the Gensini score. Linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between the severity of CAD and the MCV. RESULTS: Patients within the fourth quartile of the Gensini score had a significantly higher MCV than those within the third, second, and first quartiles (94.1 ± 6.7 vs. 93.2 ± 6.4 vs. 92.8 ± 5.1 vs. 92.6 ± 6.2, respectively). After adjustment for potential confounding factors, the multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the MCV was significantly associated with the severity of CAD. Additionally, the red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and red blood cell count were significantly associated with the severity of CAD. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the MCV, RDW, and red blood cell count are correlated with and may serve as biomarkers for the severity of CAD.