Ferritin in dialysis-related arthropathy: could it be a possible biochemical indicator of articular chronic pain?

The aim of our study was to evaluate laboratory data behaviour in two dialysis populations, with and without dialysis-related arthropathy and pain.

We produced an elaboration of more than 160,000 items of biochemical data of 25 dialysis-related arthropathy patients with chronic articular pain, and 25 patients asymptomatic for joint pain and arthropathy. The pain visual analogue scale (VAS) was employed for pain intensity determination.

The serum level of β-2 microglobulin was similar in the two groups of patients, while ferritin values were significantly higher in symptomatic patients. We excluded the possibility that the ferritin difference between the two groups was due to different iron storage and to an inflammatory profile. Furthermore, the pain VAS mean value was higher in patients who had higher ferritin and pain than in asymptomatic patients.

It is important to underline that the higher value of ferritin in patients with chronic pain due to dialysis- -related arthropathy could represent a new stimulus for a deeper investigation of this indicator, setting a periodic revelation of pain intensity.