Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38066931›Full record

ArticleHematology. American Society of Hematology. Education Program2023

Sex, lies, and iron deficiency: a call to change ferritin reference ranges.

Kylee Martens, Thomas G DeLoughery

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Hematology. American Society of Hematology. Education Program, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed
9.9field-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

23 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2025
    Review
  14. Diagnosis and management of iron deficiency in females.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2025
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. [Practice-oriented rational assessment of anemia].Innere Medizin (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2025
    Review
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Iron Deficiency-More Than Just Anemia: A Literature Review.Journal of community hospital internal medicine perspectives · 2025
    Review
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

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Kylee MartensKnight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR.
Thomas G DeLougheryKnight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR.
Oregon Health & Science University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Iron deficiency is a very common and treatable disorder. Of all the tests available to diagnose iron deficiency, the serum ferritin is the most able to discriminate iron deficiency from other disorders. However, the reference range for ferritin in many laboratories will lead to underdiagnosis of iron deficiency in women. Studies have shown that 30%-50% of healthy women will have no marrow iron stores, so basing ferritin cutoffs on the lowest 2.5% of sampled ferritins is not appropriate. In addition, several lines of evidence suggest the body physiologic ferritin "cutoff" is 50  ng/mL. Work is needed to establish more realistic ferritin ranges to avoid underdiagnosing a readily treatable disorder.

Indexed as

Anemia, Iron-DeficiencyIron DeficienciesBone MarrowFemaleFerritinsHumansIronReference ValuesFerritinsIron

Identifiers

PMID38066931
PMCPMC10727104
OpenAlexW4389489502

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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.