Metabolic abnormalities such as shortening of telomere length, poor nutritional status,30 31 inflammation,32–34 oxidative stress,35 36 dyslipidaemia, hypertension, erythrocyte fragmentation or alteration of erythropoietin function might contribute to RDW increase.37 In normal parturition, the increase in RDW might be related to stimulus induced reticulocytosis in the last few weeks.30 This might not be the case in our study where, even if five patients with spontaneous onset of labour were excluded, RDW remained a significant predictor of mortality.con. This evidence concerns the gene EPO and Hypertension.