Zhao J, et al. - Researchers probed the utility of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) as a simple and readily available marker of occurrence of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Compared to the mean RDW in the SSc-interstitial lung disease (ILD) group, the mean RDW in the SSc-PAH-ILD group was significantly higher. In patients with SSc, high RDW was an independent predictor of PAH, besides the recognized risk factors. For identifying the pulmonary arterial hypertension in SSc patients, RDW could be a related factor.