Serum Transferrin Receptor Concentrations In Diagnosing And Differentiating Iron Deficiency Anemia From Anemia Of Chronic Diseases In Children

Iron deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia. In children it can lead to lower growth rate, educational and behavioral problems and immune dysfunction. One of the main difficulties is to distinguish between the anemia of chronic diseases (ACD) with and without iron deficiency. There is an evident clinical need for non-invasive and sensitive means for the detection of iron deficiency.: This study was conducted to assess the diagnostic efficiency of serum transferrin receptor (sTfR) measurements, in diagnosis of iron deficiency in anemia of chronic disorders. Methods: The patient population of our study consisted of 40 anemic children, 18 children were iron deficiency anemia (group1), 13 children suffered from iron deficiency anemia in presence of acute infection (group 1I) and 9 children had anemia of chronic disorders (group III). Twenty healthy children enrolled and studied as a control group. Complete blood count, serum iron, total iron binding capacity, serum ferritin and sTfR were assayed in all patient groups. Results: The study showed that sTfR was very highly significantly elevated in all groups, when compared separately with the control group (p<0.001). sTFR level showed highest value in the iron deficiency anemia (IDA) group 1 (725. 22± 228.65 u/ml), followed by the ACD group III (665.0±136.90 u/m1), then IDA with acute infection group II (466.14±97.86 u/mI). Moreover, TfR / ferritin ratio was also significantly elevated in the three groups when compared with the control (p<0.001). Conclusion: We concluded that the increase in sTfR among patients with anemia of chronic disease reflects the increased demand for iron in the erythroid cells, thus we might rely on sTfR level in distinguishing the coexistence of iron deficiency anemia in anemia of chronic inflammatory diseases