Clin Pediatr Hematol Oncol.
2007 Oct;14(2):145-150.
Correlation between Pro-hepcidin Level and Iron Parameter in Infant Patients with Iron Deficiency Anemia and Anemia-free Infants
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Pediatrics, Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine, Jinju, Korea. pedneu@gsnu.ac.kr
Abstract
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PURPOSE: Anemia is one of the most common nutritional disorders in children, especially infants in their growing period. Hepcidin is known as an important regulator of iron metabolism, and reportedly relevant to anemia of chronic disease. Pro-hepcidin, its precursor was measured and compared in an iron deficiency anemia (IDA) group and a normal control (NC) group. We looked into if an increase of pro-hepcidin is related to IDA.
METHODS
Among the infants who visited Gyeongsang Univeristy Hospital for 7 years from January, 2000 to August, 2006, 25 infants with IDA, at the age of 6 to 24 months, with Hb <11 g/dL, ferritin <10 ng/mL , and Transferrin Saturation <10%, and a NC group of 58 infants at the age of 6 to 24 months, with Hb over 11g/dL were examined.
RESULTS
The median level of pro-hepcidin in the IDA group and the NC group was 189.7 (81.3~756.4 ng/mL) and 299.8 (38.9~1000.0 ng/mL) with a statistical significance (P=0.0001). In the IDA group, pro-hepcidin level and iron parameter didn't have any significant correlation. In NC group of CRP higher than 5 mg/L, the level of ferritin is positively correlated with CRP.
CONCLUSION
Compared to the NC group, the IDA group had a significantly low level of pro-hepcidin, which led to an inference that this hormone involved in chronic infection and acute infection has nothing to do with infants' IDA. CRP rather than pro-hepcidin was related to the level of ferritin in NC group of CRP >5 mg/L. But, considering that ferritin in IDA group was all less than 10, pro-hepcidin in IDA patients with ferritin between 10 to 50 needs further studying.
