January 31, 2018Circulation Heart Failure261 citationsOpen Access
View Full PaperDefinition of Iron Deficiency Based on the Gold Standard of Bone Marrow Iron Staining in Heart Failure Patients
Structured PICO
Does TSAT ≤19.8% or serum iron ≤13 µmol/L accurately identify iron deficiency and predict mortality in heart failure patients compared to bone marrow staining?
P
Population
Heart failure patients
I
Intervention
TSAT ≤19.8% or serum iron ≤13 µmol/L
C
Comparator
Ferritin and bone marrow iron staining (gold standard)
O
Outcome
Identification of iron deficiency and risk of deathsurrogate
TSAT <20% is validated as the best marker for iron deficiency in heart failure, whereas the diagnostic value of ferritin is questioned.
Abstract
A TSAT ≤19.8% or a serum iron ≤13 µmol/L shows the best performance in selecting patients with ID and identifies HF patients at the highest risk of death. Our findings validate the currently used TSAT cutoff of <20% for the identification of ID in HF patients, but question the diagnostic value of ferritin.