Iron status in a general practice and its relationship to morbidity

Area of Science:

• Clinical Medicine
• Biochemistry
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Iron deficiency is a common condition with potential health implications.
• Early detection of iron deficiency is crucial for preventing anemia and associated clinical features.
• Current methods for assessing iron status may not always identify early-stage deficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate iron status in a general practice population.
• To evaluate the utility of serum ferritin as an early marker for iron deficiency.
• To correlate iron status indicators with clinical features of iron deficiency.

Main Methods:

• An epidemiological study involving a 10% stratified random sample of patients aged over 15 years.
• Measurement of full blood count, serum iron concentration, transferrin saturation, and serum ferritin concentration.
• Correlation of biochemical markers with clinical features associated with iron deficiency.

Main Results:

• Geometric mean serum ferritin levels were 77 µg/L for males and 37 µg/L for females.
• Low serum ferritin (males <30 µg/L, females <20 µg/L) without anemia was observed in 50 patients.
• Forty of these patients exhibited clinical features associated with iron deficiency, compared to seven in a control group.

Conclusions:

• Serum ferritin concentration is the most sensitive indicator of iron status.
• Serum ferritin enables the detection of pre-anemic iron deficiency.
• Monitoring serum ferritin is recommended for early identification and management of iron deficiency.