The American journal of medicine
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Iron overload unexplained by dietary or medicinal iron excess, transfusion, or sideroblastic anemia has been described infrequently in Americans of African descent. The purpose of this study was to characterize iron overload attributable to excessive iron absorption in African Americans. ⋯ In comparison with Caucasians with hemochromatosis, our patients have slightly lower mean values of serum iron concentration and transferrin saturation, more Kupffer cell iron deposits, a higher incidence of thalassemia and hemoglobinopathy, and infrequent positivity for HLA-A3. Iron overload in African Americans appears to be more similar to that in certain sub-Saharan African natives than to hemochromatosis.