Iron status of 38-year-old women in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Abstract

ABSTRACTBlood haemoglobin concentration, packed cell volume, blood cell counts, serum iron concentration, total iron binding capacity, bone marrow iron content, sideroblast count, iron absorption and menstrual blood loss were studied in 372 38‐year‐old women who were representative of the general female population of that age resident in Gothenburg, Sweden. The distributions of serum iron concentration, serum total iron binding capacity, and transferrin saturation were slightly skewed, whereas the distributions of iron absorption, reticulocyte count, sideroblast count, and menstrual blood loss were markedly skewed. The other variables studied were mainly normally distributed. One‐third of the women (32 %) had no reticuloendothelial iron and another 14 % only traces of reticuloendothelial iron in smears from sternal bone marrow. Serum iron concentration and total iron binding capacity were rather high and menstrual blood loss low in women taking oral contraceptives, while factors such as country of origin, socio‐economic group, blood donation, previous oral iron therapy or recent infection seemed to have no or only a slight influence on variables reflecting the iron status.