Contributed by – Healthians Team
What is the Ferritin test?
First things first: let’s clear up any misconceptions about ferritin being ‘the same thing as iron’ in our body. It’s not — ferritin is not iron but a blood protein. Ferritin is usually stored in your cells, with a very small amount actually circulating in your blood. It is found in most tissues where it is located inside the cells. Its principal function is to store iron in a soluble, non-toxic form, and transport it to where it is required in a controlled manner.
Ferritin is essential for maintaining a balanced level of iron in the body. Thus ferritin acts as a buffer against both — iron deficiency and iron overload — in the body.
The total amount of ferritin in the blood provides an accurate reflection of the quantity of the body’s stores of iron. A ferritin test is used as a diagnostic test to figure out iron-deficiency anemia or an iron surplus.
Who should get a Ferritin test?
Your doctor might order a ferritin test to monitor the overall depiction of your iron levels. Doctors can also use it to diagnose or suggest certain conditions like:
- Iron deficiency anemia
- Hemochromatosis (too much iron in the body)
- Liver disease due to alcohol abuse
- Adult Still’s disease (a rare type of arthritis with fever and rash)
Why is the Ferritin test needed?
A ferritin test is needed for the quantitative determination of ferritin concentration in human serum. This is valid for either diagnosing a disorder or monitoring a clinical condition.
What does a Ferritin test result mean?
The diagnostic criterion for the ideal level of ferritin is 40-60 nanogram/milliliter (ng/ml), below 20ng/ml is deficiency and above 80ng/ml is iron overload.
Many laboratories consider the normal range for blood ferritin as below:
- For men,24 to 336 micrograms per liter
- For women,11 to 307 micrograms per liter
Lower than normal results
This indicates that the body’s iron stores are low and you have an iron deficiency. As a result, you could be anemic. This type of anemia may be due to:
- Inadequate iron intake
- Heavy bleeding from an injury
- Blood loss due to menstruation
- Malabsorption of iron from food, medicines, or vitamins
- Bleeding in the esophagus, stomach, or intestines
Higher than normal results
This indicates that you have a condition that causes your body to store too much iron. A large number of chronic diseases display an elevated serum ferritin concentration, diagnosis of which might require additional testing.
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Liver disease
- Hemochromatosis
- Hyperthyroidism
- Leukemia
- Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Alcohol abuse
- Taking too many iron supplements
- Some types of cancer
How is the Ferritin test done?
A ferritin blood test is a simple way to measure a person’s iron levels. If ferritin is the only test you’re having, no fasting is required and you can eat and drink as usual. During the ferritin test, a sample of blood is taken by inserting a needle into a vein in your arm. The blood sample is sent to a lab for clinical analysis. You can return to your usual activities immediately.
