A preliminary study of serum ferritin reference range in the adult Ghanaian

Serum ferritin levels were determined in 85 Healthy Ghanaian adults (45 men and 39 women) with a Ciba Corning 125I-Ferritin procedure. Concentrations showed a non-guassian distribution. Values for males ranged from 5.6-273 ng/ml and from 0.74-135 ng/ml for females. The non-guassian nature of the distribution necessitated a logarithmic transformation of the data in order to calculate the serum ferritin reference range (Mean +/- 2SD) for the subjects. The reference range for the males (antilogarithm) was 8.5-306.5 ng/ml (mean = 51.0 ng/ml). The reference range for the Ghanaian women was 3-112 ng/ml (mean = 18.0 ng/ml). The reported reference range for the Caucasian male is 7-350 ng/ml (mean -51.0 ng/ml) and for the Caucasian female, 5-135 ng/ml (mean = 22.0 ng/ml). These Ghanaian reference ranges agree closely with the caucasian values. Data from this preliminary study suggest serum ferritin values of < 8.5 ng/ml and < 3 ng/ml could serve as cut-off points below which iron deficiency may be said to be present in the adult Ghanaian male and female respectively when the same method of analysis is used. A further study of ferritin levels in the Ghanaian is recommended. Pending further work, continued use of the conventional cut-off points of 20 ng/ml for males and 10 ng/ml for females to identify iron-deficient individuals is in order. These conventional cut-off points enhance chances for identifying iron-deficient individuals.