Laboratory tests for measurement of iron status [3]
| Iron deficiency | Iron deficiency anemia | IRIDA | Anemia of chronic disease | Iron-deficiency anemia and anemia of chronic disease | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional test (normal range) | |||||
| Iron (10-30 mmol/L) | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| Transferrin saturation (16-45%) | ≥16 | <16 | <10 | Low-normal | Low-normal |
| Hemoglobin | Normal | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| Men (>13 g/dL) | |||||
| Women (>12 g/dL) |
|||||
| Ferritin | <30 | <10-15 | Variable | >100 | <100 |
| Men (40-300 mg/L) | |||||
| Women (20-200 mg/L) | |||||
| Mean corpuscular volume (80-95 fL) | Normal | Low | Very low | Low-normal | Low-normal |
| New-investigation test | |||||
| sTFR (mg/L) |
High | High | High | High | High |
| sTFR/log ferritin index |
NA | >2 | NA | <1 | >2 |
| Hepcidin (ng/mL) |
Usually ≤10 | Very low | Normal-high | High | Normal-high |
| Zinc protoporphyrin (mmol/mol heme) |
Normal | High | High | High | High |
| Reticulocyte hemoglobin content (31.2±1.6 pg) | <25 | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| Perl’s staining of bone marrow | Negative | Negative | Positive | Strongly positive | Positive |
IRIDA, iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia; sTFR, Soluble transferrin receptor
a)If, pregnant women >11 g/dL. b)Normal values vary according to the method of measurement used