Hypoferritinaemia in anaemic patients attending a tertiary hospital in Maiduguri, Nigeria

Abstract

It has been reported that over one-quarter of the world population is anaemic and half of these were due to iron deficiency anaemia (IDA). Since serum ferritin is widely used to assess iron load, this study sought to determine the serum ferritin concentrations of anaemic patients attending the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Nigeria. This study was prospective study carried out from March to September 2015. Blood samples of Ninety-one (91) anaemic patients were analysed for their individual packed cell volume (PCV) and serum ferritin concentrations using microhematocrit centrifuge and Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (using Bio-Quant TM) respectively. Findings from these analyses were correlated in respect to their age, gender and prior clinical diagnosis. Out of 91 patients, 59 (64.8%) had normal and 28 (30.8%) had high ferritin concentration, however, 4 (4.4%) had hypoferritinamia. The overall mean± SD of PCV (L/L) was 0.21± 0.46. There was statistical association between serum ferritin concentration and gender of adults but not with gender of children (≤ 12 years) (P =.013 and P =.555 respectively). There was no significant statistical association between serum ferritin concentration with age of subjects (P = 0.250) and prior clinical diagnosis of subjects (P =.125) Serum ferritin has been proven to be a logical measure of iron deficiency anaemia; however hypoferritinaemia may also be affected by inflammation especially in subjects with chronic diseases. In order to gain better insight into iron metabolic activities, it is recommended to conduct serum transferrin total iron binding capacity assays in these patients.