Have Had Test For Iron Level. Why Is Ferritin Level So High?

Posted on Thu, 11 Jul 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 Answered on

Sat, 27 Jul 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I have an serum iron of 75,tibc of 342,iron saturation of 25%..But a ferritin count of 770? Why is ferritin so high?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Michelle Gibson (39 minutes later)

95HI, thanks for using healthcare magic

The serum iron, total iron binding capacity and saturation are within normal range but as you correctly stated the ferritin level is high.
The normal range for ferritin is 23 to 336 ng/ml for males.

Ferritin is the storage protein for iron but its levels can go up in a variety of situations such as : acute and chronic liver disease
(2)infection
(3)inflammation
(4)alcoholism
(5)malignancy
(6)hyperthyroidism
(7)iron overload
(8)cancer of the kidney
(9) anemia that is not iron deficiency anemia

It goes up in these conditions because in addition to acting as a storage protein , it is also an acute phase reactant .This means that it responds to any inflammation or oxidative stress of the cells of the body.

Your doctor may determine the likely cause of the increased ferritin based on your medical history, results of examination and any other investigations that were done.

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Michelle Gibson (4 minutes later)

Can my arthritis cause inflammation that might raise my ferritin levels?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Michelle Gibson (11 minutes later)

HI

If the inflammation is severe as a result of the OA then it is possible for the ferritin to rise but in that case other inflammatory markers should also be increased.

There are other markers that can detect inflammation in the body such as ESR or c reactive protein.

Please feel free to ask any thing else

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar