Serum ferritin <70 μg/L predicts functional iron deficiency in patients with chronic kidney disease

Anemia is a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD) which is treated by erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. However, most of the patients do not respond adequately due to the development of functional iron deficiency (FID). The study was conducted to explore the value of inflammatory markers, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) along with serum ferritin (SF) in the diagnosis of FID. Seventy-seven clinically diagnosed patients of CKD (Stage 3, 4, and 5) of either sex, age >18 years with hemoglobin 12 μg/L - SF <70 μg/L was able to identify 14/19 cases of FID. Furthermore, hsCRP further stratified the subgroup of CKD patients in which FID could be detected with higher sensitivity and specificity.