Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33205000›Full record

ArticleHemaSphere2020

Hypoferremia is Associated With Increased Hospitalization and Oxygen Demand in COVID-19 Patients.

Theresa Hippchen, Sandro Altamura, Martina U Muckenthaler, Uta Merle

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in HemaSphere, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
54citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
7.2field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

54 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 78 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Iron and the lung: emerging roles of iron metabolism in pulmonary disease pathogenesis and therapy.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Iron and the immune system.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2025
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Why cells need iron: a compendium of iron utilisation.Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEM · 2024
    Review
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Iron and iron-related proteins in COVID-19.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2023
    Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Theresa HippchenDepartment of Internal Medicine IV, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Sandro AltamuraPediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Martina U MuckenthalerPediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Uta MerleDepartment of Internal Medicine IV, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Community Partners · USHeidelberg University · DEUniversity Hospital Heidelberg · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Iron metabolism might play a crucial role in cytokine release syndrome in COVID-19 patients. Therefore, we assessed iron metabolism markers in COVID-19 patients for their ability to predict disease severity. COVID-19 patients referred to the Heidelberg University Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into outpatients (cohort A, n = 204), inpatients (cohort B, n = 81), and outpatients later admitted to hospital because of health deterioration (cohort C, n = 23). Iron metabolism parameters were severely altered in patients of cohort B and C compared to cohort A. In multivariate regression analysis including age, gender, CRP and iron-related parameters only serum iron and ferritin were significantly associated with hospitalization. ROC analysis revealed an AUC for serum iron of 0.894 and an iron concentration <6 μmol/l as the best cutoff-point predicting hospitalization with a sensitivity of 94.7% and a specificity of 67.9%. When stratifying inpatients in a low- and high oxygen demand group serum iron levels differed significantly between these two groups and showed a high negative correlation with the inflammatory parameters IL-6, procalcitonin, and CRP. Unexpectedly, serum iron levels poorly correlate with hepcidin. We conclude that measurement of serum iron can help predicting the severity of COVID-19. The differences in serum iron availability observed between the low and high oxygen demand group suggest that disturbed iron metabolism likely plays a causal role in the pathophysiology leading to lung injury.

Identifiers

PMID33205000
PMCPMC7665253
OpenAlexW3098457008

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.