Clinical Significance of Serum Soluble Transferrin Receptor in Hypochromic Microcytic Anemia

Objective: To determine the clinical significance of soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) in hypochromic microcytic anemia for diagnose of iron deficiency anemia. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Settings: Department of pathology at Liaquat university of Medical and Health Sciences Jamshoro and Hyderabad Pakistan. Duration: From February 2015 to July 2015. Methodology: Patients of microcytic hypochromic anemic were included. Patients underwent serum ferritin level, serum iron, TIBC and soluble transferrin receptor tests. All the data was entered in the self-made proforma for the purpose of analysis. Results: Total of 139 patients were studied; their mean age was 26+15.62 years. Female gender was most common (75.5%). Mean ferritin level was 49.35+6.88, whereas TIBC value was 40.55+96.26. Mean of sTFR level was 4.17+2.25. sTFR was inversely proportional to Hb, MCV and MCHC. sTFR was found to be an accurate diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of hypochromic microcytic anemia with 100% sensitivity and 98.2% specificity. Conclusion: sTfR is the less-invasive and a reliable differentiating marker with substantial clinical significance in hypochromic microcytic anemia for diagnose of iron deficiency anemia.