Table 5 Mean levels of Log ferritin, sTfR and CRP for iron status categories using Gale’s and Intensive grading methods
| Biochemical tests | Gales’ grading method | Intensive grading method | |||||
| Normal | Iron deficiency | Normal | Functional iron deficiency | Iron stores deficiency | Functional and iron stores deficiency | ||
| Log ferritin (μg/l)* | Mean (SD) [n] | 2.7 (0.5) [89] | 1.8 (0.7) [61] | 2.8 (0.5) [34] | 2.6 (0.6) [44] | 1.9 (0.7) [29] | 2.1 (0.8) 9 |
| 95% CI | 2.6 to 2.8 | 1.6 to 2.0 | 2.6 to 2.96 | 2.4 to 2.8 | 1.7 to 1.2 | 1.6 to 2.7 | |
| sTfR (μg/ml)† | Mean (SD) [n] | 11.8 (10.7) [156] | 22.7 (15.9) [86] | 12.5 (16.2) [56] | 11.4 (6.0) [76] | 21.7 (12.5) [44] | 27.0 (28.3) 14 |
| 95% CI | 10.1 to 13.5 | 19.4 to 26.1 | 8.1 to 17.0 | 10.0 to 12.7 | 18.0 to 25.4 | 12.2 to 41.9 | |
| CRP (mg/ml)‡ | Mean (SD) [n] | 122.0 (6.7) [156] | 71.9 (8.5) [86] | 99.8 (70.1) [56] | 126.7 (85.6) [77] | 71.9 (74.7) [45] | 68.9 (64.9) 13 |
| 95% CI | 108.7 to 135.2 | 55.2 to 88.7 | 81.5 to 118.2 | 107.6 to 145.8 | 50.0 to 93.7 | 33.6 to 104.2 | |
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*Normal >30 μg/l.
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†Normal <8.3 μg/ml.
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‡Normal <10 mg/ml.
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sTfR, soluble transferrin receptor; CRP, C-reactive protein.
