Reticulocyte Haemoglobin Content and Soluble Transferrin Receptor Concentration as Markers of Iron Stores in Chronic Kidney Disease in Egyptian Patients

Abstract

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD), also known as chronic renal disease, is progressive loss in kidney function over a period of months or years. It is an internationally recognized public health problem affecting 5–10% of the world population. Objective: To evaluate the role of reticulocyte hemoglobin content and soluble transferrin receptor concentration for detection of iron deficiency anemia in chronic kidney disease in Egyptian patients compared to conventional markers. Patients and Methods: This is a cross–sectional study that had been done on 177 Chronic Kidney Disease Egyptian patients with iron deficiency anemia. Patients had been selected from the Outpatient Clinics and Hemodialysis Unit of the Internal Medicine Department, Menoufia University Hospital. Subjects had been divided into three groups: group 1 (Hemodialysis group): A number of 49 chronic hemodialysis patients (more than 3 months), group 2 (CKD group): A number of 88 patients with chronic kidney disease stages 3-5 and group 3 (Controls): Included 40 healthy subjects as a control group and had been matched with other groups regarding age and gender. Results: There was statistically significant difference between the studied groups regarding serum iron, serum transferrin and serum ferritin. There was statistically significant difference between group I, II compared to control regarding total iron binding capacity (TIBC), Hb, reticulocyte hemoglobin content and serum soluble transferrin receptors (sTfR). Conclusion: This study concluded that sTfR, and TfR-F index proved to be important tools to determine iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) in RH anemic patients and TFR index has superior accuracy than sTfR.