Criteria for Iron Deficiency

 

Measures:

(1) serum hepcidin

(2) serum soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR)

Test	Value	Indicates
serum hepcidin	< 14.5 ng/mL	depleted iron stores
serum soluble transferrin receptor	> 1.59 mg/L	unmet cellular iron requirements

 

where:

• The serum hepcidin level was the 5 ^th percentile for a healthy population.

• The serum sTfR was the 95 ^th percentile for a healthy population.

 

The presence of both indicates iron deficiency.

 

A low serum ferritin supports the diagnosis of iron deficiency but ferritin may be affected as an acute phase reactant.

 

Anemia of chronic disease may impact the reliability of serum hepcidin levels as a measure of iron stores.