The association of preoperative red blood cell indexes in non-anemic patients undergoing lung resections for non-small-cell lung cancer with recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) has never been investigated.We retrospectively examined the impact of preoperative red blood cell indexes on RFS and OS and the relationships between the indexes and clinicopathological factors in lung cancer.A total of 649 patients were evaluated. The mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration was showed as an independent prognostic factor in all patients for OS (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.697; 95% CI: 0.502-0.969; p = 0.032) and RFS (HR: 0.688; 95% CI: 0.519-0.914; p = 0.010). The mean corpuscular volume was an independent prognostic factor in all patients for OS (HR: 0.589; 95% CI: 0.380-0.912; p = 0.018), but not for RFS (HR: 0.684; 95% CI: 0.461-1.015; p = 0.059).In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration is an independent prognostic factor for OS and RFS in non-small-cell lung cancer.