THE DIAGNOSTIC VALUE OF SERUM FERRITIN IN ASSESSING IRON STATUS IN SYRIAN HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS

Document Type : Original Article

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Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al Baath, University, Homs, Syria

Abstract

In this research, we aimed to study the diagnostic value of serum ferritin in assessing iron status in hemodialysis patients (HD). While ferritin is one of the most important laboratory parameters used to assess iron status, but the presence of confounding factors such as chronic inflammation in HD patients may confuse the interpretation of laboratory results. The study was conducted on 73 adult patients who were on maintenance HD at Al-Basel Hospital in Homs, Syria, with the presence of 25 age – matched healthy subjects. Blood samples were collected before the HD session, serum CRP was used as an inflammatory marker. The results showed a significant increase in serum ferritin values in the patients group compared to healthy subjects, with an average value of (539.64 ng/ml), and this increase coincided with a decrease in Hb and TSAT values,  but with an increase in CRP. Also, we found a significant positive correlation between ferritin and CRP (r2= 0.132, P= 0.002) in the patients group. Thus, the presence of chronic inflammation in HD patients may raise serum ferritin unrelated to iron stores, and reduce its diagnostic value.

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