UTILITY OF SERUM FERRITIN AS A MEASURE OF IRON-DEFICIENCY IN NORMAL MALES UNDERGOING REPETITIVE PHLEBOTOMY
- 1 January 1980
- journal article
- research article
- Vol. 56 (5) , 786-791
Abstract
Hematologic indices and Fe balance data were obtained on 22 normal male volunteers who were subjected to a mean .+-. SD phlebotomy of 164 .+-. 34 ml whole blood/mo. while living in a controlled environment. Over an average stay of 5 mo., volunteers did not develop anemia, but did display a reduction in Fe stores that was quantitated by measurement of serum ferritin and Fe balance. The percent saturation of transferrin and the usual erythrocyte parameters did not reflect changes in Fe status. Loss of Fe, which was calculated from quantitative phlebotomy and Fe balance data, showed that a decrease of 1 ng of serum ferritin represented a loss of 4.5 .+-. 5.3 mg of Fe in 10 men whose initial serum ferritins were > 25 ng/ml, and 25.3 .+-. 58.8 mg of Fe in 7 men whose initial serum ferritins were < 25 ng/ml. The period required for 3 volunteers who consumed a self-selected mixed diet at home to replace their depleted Fe stores to prephlebotomy levels was about 4.5 mo. The sensitivity of serum ferritin as an index of Fe stores was affirmed. Normal men who were consuming a mixed diet containing about 15 mg of Fe daily and losing blood at a rate of 164 .+-. 34 ml/mo. did not increase their Fe absorption sufficiently to compensate for the Fe loss.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: