Ferritin Reference Curves and Optimal Curves in Preadolescent Children

What are the lower and upper limits of the ferritin reference curves for preadolescent children, and are these curves associated with physiologically based iron deficiency thresholds?In this cross-sectional study of 4935 children, the limits were highest in early infancy, declined at 1.5 years of age (lower limit, 5-6 ng/mL), then gradually increased at 9 to 10 years of age (lower limit, 15-17 ng/mL). From 3 months to 10 years of age, the lower limit of ferritin level was below the physiologically based threshold of 20 ng/mL or less.These findings suggest that reference curves, which provide lower and upper limits continuously across age, may improve clinical utility, despite the lower limits being below the proposed threshold for identifying iron deficiency in pediatrics.

Corresponding Author: Patricia C. Parkin, MD, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, 686 Bay St, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada (patricia.parkin@sickkids.ca).

Link to the article in your story

We encourage you to link out to this article in your story using the link below. It includes an access token that will give free access to the article for your readers up to one year after publication. (The link will be live after the article publishes and embargo is lifted.)

Please see the article for additional information, including full author list, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

Need more information? Contact us.