Reference limits for haemoglobin and ferritin

doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7316.806

BMJ 2001;323:806 ( 6 October )

Letters

Reference limits for haemoglobin and ferritin

If it's not broken, don't fix it

Differences in haemoglobin concentrations reflect physiological differences

Authors' reply

If it's not broken, don't fix it

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Rushton et al suggest that reference ranges for men should be used to assess iron status in women of childbearing age.¹They do, however, make some incorrect assumptions and do not considerthe practical implications of such achange.

Women must have sufficient iron stores to prevent iron deficiency from menstrual blood loss or pregnancy. However, one in150 people in the United Kingdom are homozygous for the C282Ymutation of the HFE gene, which is associated with haemochromatosis.²Although the clinical penetrance of this genotype is low, widespreadmeasures to increase the intake of iron in younger women willalso increase the intake of men and postmenopausal women. It istherefore important that any changes in lower limits of indicesof iron status are firmly supported by clinical and experimentalevidence.

Rushton et al are incorrect in assuming that different lower limits for ferritin are used for detecting . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

Technorati What's this?

Why should women have lower reference limits for haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations than men?: D Hugh Rushton, Robin Dover, Anthony W Sainsbury, Michael J Norris, Jeremy J H Gilkes, and Ian D Ramsay
BMJ 2001 322: 1355-1357. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]