Comparison of two ferritin assay platforms to assess their level of agreement in measuring serum and plasma ferritin levels in patients with chronic kidney disease

Prevalence of nutritional anemia and its risk factors in children under five in the Gaza Strip

Background

The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of anemia and its associated risk factors among under-five children aged 24-59 months in Gaza Strip, Palestine.

Method

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2023 before Gaza war, among a representative sample of under-five children. A total of 750 children, aged 24-59 months, were selected from all Gaza Strip governorates, using a cluster random sampling method. Children and their parents were assessed using an interview-based questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, biochemical measurements, and clinical examination. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 25.

Results

The prevalence of anemia (Hb <11 g/dL) among under-five children was 35.6%. Of them, 77.5% had mild anemia and 22.5% had moderate anemia. The prevalence of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) (Hb <11 g/dL and SF <12 μg/L) among under-five children was 4.0%. Various risk factors were found to be statistically significant in relation to nutritional anemia. These included child-related factors such as age, weight, height, sibling arrangement, governorate, and place of residence. Family characteristics like the father's age, smoking habits, the mother's education, employment, marital history, income, housing ownership, and a history of anemia during pregnancy also played a role. Additionally, dietary factors such as tea, meat, crisps, cola, fruits, breastfeeding practices, malnutrition, appetite, and hereditary diseases were significantly associated with anemia in these children (p-values <0.05 for all).

Conclusion

Our study clearly demonstrates that anemia is highly prevalent (35.6% anemia, and 4.0% IDA) among under-five children in Gaza Strip governorates. Different risk factors including the child's and family characteristics, and the consumption of some of food items were associated with a high prevalence of anemia. The high prevalence of anemia should be seriously considered and policy makers should take steps to reduce it.

Serum concentration of ferroportin in women of reproductive age

Introduction

Ferroportin (Fpn) is the only known iron exporter and plays an essential role in iron homeostasis. Serum concentrations of Fpn in health and/or diseased states are still mostly unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the concentration of Fpn in the serum of women of reproductive age (WRA) for the first time, and to establish whether there is a difference in the concentration of Fpn according to ferritin status.

Materials and methods

This research included 100 WRA (18-45 years, C-reactive protein (CRP) < 5 mg/L, hemoglobin > 120 g/L). Serum Fpn was measured using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method on the analyzer EZ Read 800 Plus (Biochrom, Cambridge, UK). Reference interval was calculated using the robust method.

Results

The median concentration of Fpn in the whole study group was 9.74 (5.84-15.69) µg/L. The subgroup with ferritin concentration > 15 µg/L had a median Fpn concentration 15.21 (10.34-21.93) µg/L, which significantly differed from Fpn concentration in the subgroup with ferritin concentration ≤ 15 µg/L (5.93 (4.84-8.36) µg/L, P < 0.001). The reference limits for the Fpn were 2.26-29.81 µg/L with 90% confidence intervals (CI) of 1.78 to 2.83 and 25.37 to 34.33, respectively.

Conclusions

The proposed reference interval could help in the future research on iron homeostasis both in physiological conditions and in various disorders, because this is the first study that measured Fpn concentration in a certain gender and age group of a healthy population.

Ferritin: A Biomarker Requiring Caution in Clinical Decision

OBJECTIVES

To determine the ferritin inter-assay differences between three "Conformité Européenne" (CE) marked tests, the impact on reference intervals (RI), and the proportion of individuals with iron deficiency (ID), we used plasma and serum from healthy blood donors (HBD) recruited in three different Switzerland regions.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Heparinized plasma and serum from HBD were obtained from three different transfusion centers in Switzerland (Fribourg, Geneva, and Neuchatel). One hundred forty samples were recruited per center and per matrix, with a gender ratio of 50%, for a total of 420 HBD samples available per matrix. On both matrices, ferritin concentrations were quantified by three different laboratories using electrochemiluminescence (ECL), latex immunoturbidimetric assay (LIA), and luminescent oxygen channeling immunoassay (LOCI) assays, respectively. The degree of agreement between matrices and between the three sites/methods was assessed by Passing-Bablok and we evaluated the proportion of individuals deemed to have ID per method.

RESULTS

Overall, no difference between serum and heparinized plasma ferritin values was observed according to Passing-Bablok analyses (proportional bias range: 1.0-3.0%; maximum constant bias: 1.84 µg/L). Significant median ferritin differences (p < 0.001 according to Kruskal-Wallis test) were observed between the three methods (i.e., 83.6 µg/L, 103.5 µg/L, and 62.1 µg/L for ECL, LIA, and LOCI in heparinized plasma, respectively), with proportional bias varying significantly between ±16% and ±32% on serum and from ±14% to ±35% on plasma with no sign of gender-related differences. Affecting the lower end of RI, the proportion of ID per method substantially varied between 4.76% (20/420) for ECL, 2.86% (12/420) for LIA, and 9.05% (38/420) for LOCI.

CONCLUSIONS

Serum and heparinized plasma are exchangeable for ferritin assessment. However, the order of magnitude of ferritin differences across methods and HBD recruitment sites could lead to diagnostic errors if uniform RI were considered. Challenging the recently proposed use of uniform ferritin thresholds, our results highlight the importance of method- and region-specific RI for ferritin due to insufficient inter-assay harmonization. Failing to do so significantly impacts ID diagnosis.