Abstract: Objective To analyze the clinical indexes of patients with polycythemia vera (PV) and explore the effect of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) on the relapse of PV. Methods A total of 100 newly diagnosed PV patients in the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University from 2016 to 2021 were enrolled and their clinical data were analyzed. According to the relapse of treatments, they were divided into two groups: a relapse group (n=18) and a non-relapse group (n=82). Their clinical data were compared. The influencing factors for PV relapse were screened out by COX univariate analysis, and then included in COX multivariate analysis. Results The mean values of red blood cell count (RBC) and RDW in relapse PV patients were significantly higher than those in the non-relapse PV patients (P<0.05). COX regression analysis showed that RDW was an independent risk factor for PV relapse. Conclusions The level of RDW in relapse PV patients is higher than that in non-relapse patients, and RDW has certain value in predicting the relapse of PV.