title: Lower hemoglobin with lower ferritin - results from the HUNT 2 Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We wanted to study the association between blood hemoglobin concentration (b-hemoglobin) and serum ferritin concentration (s-ferritin) in a healthy female population, and compare the findings to those in a previous study of ambulant female patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared median b-hemoglobin and the fraction with anemia in groups of women with s-ferritin from less than 10 μg/L to 100 μg/L. These women, aged 20-55 years, were part of a health screening survey (HUNT 2) where they reported to have 'good' or 'very good' general health and were found to have normal s-creatinine. The s-ferritin values were adjusted to the level of the previous study. The 10, 50 and 90 percentiles of b-hemoglobin were modelled as functions of s-ferritin using quantile regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 2122 healthy females the entire b-hemoglobin distribution was shifted downwards in women with s-ferritin less than 20 μg/L. Accordingly, the median b-hemoglobin was statistically significantly lower. In women with s-ferritin less than 20 μg/L the fraction with anemia was 0.15.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lower s-ferritin is associated with lower b-hemoglobin in many more subjects than those labelled anemic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Chemistry, Trondheim University Hospital , Trondheim , Norway.
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Åsberg
authors.forename: Berit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Borch-Iohnsen
authors.forename: Gustav
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mikkelsen
authors.forename: Ketil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thorstensen
authors.forename: Ann Elisabeth
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Åsberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D005293:Ferritins
keywords: Ferritin; hypochromic anemia; iron deficiency anemia; reference values; women health