• Noah Betar, Jacelle Warren, John Adams, Danielle Herbert, Elizabeth Vujcich, Peter Maitz, and Jason Brown.
• The Professor Stuart Pegg Adult Burns Centre, The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, QLD, Australia. Electronic address: noahbetar@gmail.com.
• Burns. 2023 May 1; 49 (3): 701706701-706.

PurposeThe iron status of burn patients is poorly understood, limited by difficulty interpreting conventional iron studies in the context of the acute phase response triggered by critical illness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the iron status of patients with burn anaemia using recent post-operative guidelines.MethodologyThis retrospective cohort study utilised data collected from records for adult patients admitted to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital with burns to at least 15% TBSA. Rates of iron deficiency, defined as ferritin< 100 µg/L or ferritin 100-300 µg/L with transferrin saturation< 20%, and low iron availability, defined as transferrin saturation< 20%, were calculated.ResultsOf 60 included patients (90% male), 16 (27%) underwent iron studies. 11 (18%) were treated with intravenous iron. Iron studies showed that five (31%) patients had evidence of iron deficiency, and ten out of 12 (83%) had evidence of reduced iron availability. Two patients (40%) with evidence of iron deficiency were not treated with intravenous iron.ConclusionApplication of recent guidelines for interpretation of conventional iron studies in patients with inflammatory states may improve the identification of iron deficiency in burn patients. Iron deficiency may be an under-recognised and under-treated contributor to burn anaemia.Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

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