Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2004, 202(2)

Soluble Transferrin Receptor and Soluble Transferrin Receptor-Ferritin Index for Evaluation of the Iron Status in Elderly Patients

SEMA GENC, NILGUN ERTEN,¹ MEHMET AKIF KARAN,¹ SEVGI KALAYOGLU BESISIK,¹ BULENT SAKA,¹ CEMIL TASCIOGLU¹ and AHMET SIVAS

Department of Biochemistry, and ¹Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul School of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic values of soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) concentration, transferrin-ferritin index (soluble transferrin receptor concentration/log ferritin), ferritin levels and other related parameters in geriatric patients with anemia of chronic disease (ACD) and iron deficiency (IDA). Forty-four elderly subjects (median age 73 [63-94]) and twenty healthy subjects (median age 49 [44-56]) were enrolled into this study, divided into four groups: twenty middle aged healthy subjects (group A), fifteen elderly patients with IDA (group B), fourteen elderly patients with ACD (group C) and fifteen non-anemic geriatric subjects (group D). Hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, serum iron concentration and transferrin saturation levels of the patients in IDA group were found significantly lower than those in both non-anemic group and healthy subjects. Serum sTfR concentrations of the patients in IDA group were significantly higher than those in non-anemic geriatric group, ACD group and healthy subjects. Transferrin-ferritin index of the patients with IDA was significantly higher than that in non-anemic geriatric and ACD group. Serum ferritin levels of the patients in IDA group did not show any differences when compared with the other groups. Serum ferritin was highly specific for IDA (95%) when compared with ACD, although its sensitivity was low (38%). STfR values were negatively correlated with both transferrin and ferritin levels (p=0.042 r=−0.40; and p=0.034 r=−0.41, respectively). In conclusion, serum soluble transferrin receptor and transferrin-ferritin index may be used together with serum ferritin to distinguish the iron deficiency state in the elderly.

keywords —— soluble transferrin receptor; transferrin-ferritin index; iron deficiency; elderly

© 2004 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Address for reprints: Dr. Sema Genc, Istanbul University, Istanbul School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, 34390, Capa/Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey.

e-mail: drgenc@drgenc.com