Serum ferritin correlates with Glasgow coma scale scores and fatal outcome after severe traumatic brain injury

Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with a 30-70% mortality rate. Nevertheless, in clinical practice there are no effective biomarkers for the prediction of fatal outcome following severe TBI. Therefore, the aim was to determine whether ferritin serum levels are associated with ICU mortality in patients with severe TBI.

This prospective study enrolled 69 male patients who suffered severe TBI [Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) 3-8 at emergency room admission]. The serum ferritin protein level was determined at ICU admission (mean 5.6 ± 2.5 hours after emergency room admission).

Severe TBI was associated with a 39% mortality rate. Higher serum ferritin concentrations were significantly associated with lower hospital admission GCS scores (p = 0.049). Further, there was a significant association between higher ferritin concentrations and fatal outcome (289.5 ± 27.1 µg L(-1) for survivors and 376.5 ± 31.5 µg L(-1) for non-survivors, respectively, mean ± SEM, p = 0.032).

Increased serum ferritin levels were associated with lower hospital admission GCS scores and predicted short-term fatal outcome following severe TBI.