SERUM FERRITIN AND ITS BIOLOGICAL VARIATION IN HEALTHY ADULT MALES

Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA) is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide. Serum Ferritin is the most specific biochemical test for diagnosing Iron Deficiency Anemia. Biological variation is an important factor to be considered in assessing Serum Ferritin levels. AIM To determine Biological Variation of Serum Ferritin in Healthy Adult males .METHOD The study population consisted of 8 apparently healthy adult male subjects in the age group of 19-25 years. Venous blood was collected from each subject on 3 random non-consecutive days during a 3 week period. Serum ferritin was determined by an enzyme linked immunoassay method. RESULT The mean serum ferritin level of the study group was 25.75 gl. The biological (intra individual) coefficient of variation for serum ferritin varied from 15.50 to 38.37 with a mean variation of 26.22 . Thus, our results indicate that biological variation contributed most to the intraindividual variation.