Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH
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Trop. Med. Int. Health · Jan 2004
Comparative StudySoluble transferrin receptor in Aboriginal children with a high prevalence of iron deficiency and infection.
Aboriginal children in tropical Australia have a high prevalence of both iron deficiency and acute infections, making it difficult to differentiate their relative contributions to anaemia. The aims of this study were to compare soluble transferrin receptor with ferritin in iron deficiency anaemia (IDA), and to examine how best to distinguish the effect of iron deficiency from infection on anaemia. ⋯ Transferrin receptor does not significantly improve the diagnosis of anaemia (iron deficiency vs. infection) over full blood count and CRP, but in settings with a high burden of infectious diseases and iron deficiency, it is a more reliable adjunctive measure of iron status than ferritin.