TY - JOUR
T1 - Sex, lies, and iron deficiency
T2 - a call to change ferritin reference ranges
AU - Martens, Kylee
AU - DeLoughery, Thomas G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2023 by The American Society of Hematology.
PY - 2023/12/8
Y1 - 2023/12/8
N2 - Iron deficiency is a very common and treatable disorder. Of all the tests available to diagnose iron deficiency, the serum ferritin is the most able to discriminate iron deficiency from other disorders. However, the reference range for ferritin in many laboratories will lead to underdiagnosis of iron deficiency in women. Studies have shown that 30%-50% of healthy women will have no marrow iron stores, so basing ferritin cutoffs on the lowest 2.5% of sampled ferritins is not appropriate. In addition, several lines of evidence suggest the body physiologic ferritin "cutoff" is 50 ng/mL. Work is needed to establish more realistic ferritin ranges to avoid underdiagnosing a readily treatable disorder.
AB - Iron deficiency is a very common and treatable disorder. Of all the tests available to diagnose iron deficiency, the serum ferritin is the most able to discriminate iron deficiency from other disorders. However, the reference range for ferritin in many laboratories will lead to underdiagnosis of iron deficiency in women. Studies have shown that 30%-50% of healthy women will have no marrow iron stores, so basing ferritin cutoffs on the lowest 2.5% of sampled ferritins is not appropriate. In addition, several lines of evidence suggest the body physiologic ferritin "cutoff" is 50 ng/mL. Work is needed to establish more realistic ferritin ranges to avoid underdiagnosing a readily treatable disorder.
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U2 - 10.1182/hematology.2023000494
DO - 10.1182/hematology.2023000494
M3 - Article
C2 - 38066931
AN - SCOPUS:85179643990
SN - 1520-4391
VL - 2023
SP - 617
EP - 621
JO - Hematology. American Society of Hematology. Education Program
JF - Hematology. American Society of Hematology. Education Program
IS - 1
ER -