Serum ferritin levels are increased in patients with acute renal failure

After having observed high serum ferritin concentrations in some patients with acute renal failure (ARF) we decided to evaluate serum ferritin and iron levels in patients with acute and chronic renal failure (CRF). The concentrations of BUN, serum creatinine, Hct, Hb, serum iron and serum ferritin were measured in 47 patients with renal failure who were divided into two groups (A and B). Group A included 24 patients with ARF (19 M, 5 F) and group B 23 patients with CRF (12 M, 11 F). The diagnosis of ARF or CRF was based on patients' history and clinical examination and confirmed by the standard laboratory findings and the subsequent clinical outcome. None of the patients had received iron, blood transfusions or erythropoietin during the last six months and none had malignancy or primary liver diseases. As controls were used 20 normal volunteers (group C) and 10 patients with acute infections (group D). Comparing groups A and B we did not found any difference in BUN, creatinine and serum iron levels. However patients in group A had significantly higher serum ferritin levels (1000 +/- 752 vs 90 +/- 56 ng/dl, p = 0.0001), higher Hct (31.8 +/- 4.4 vs 25.3 +/- 4.1%, p = 0.0001) and higher Hb concentrations (10.5 +/- 1.7 vs 8.1 +/- 1.4 g/dl, p = 0.0001). Ferritin levels in patients with ARF were also higher than the corresponding levels of normal controls (group C) (p = 0.0001), but did not differ significantly from those measured in patients with acute infection (group D). We conclude that in patients with acute renal failure serum ferritin levels are increased and do not reflect serum iron levels.