Serum Levels That Differentiate Anemia of Chronic Disease from Iron-Deficiency Anemia

Serum Levels That Differentiate Anemia of Chronic Disease from Iron-Deficiency Anemia

Variable	Anemia of Chronic Disease	Iron-Deficiency Anemia	Both Conditions
Iron	Reduced	Reduced	Reduced
Trasnferrin	Reduced to normal	Increased	Reduced
Transferrin saturation	Reduced	Reduced	Reduced
Ferritin	Normal to increased	Reduced	Reduced to normal
Soluble transferrin receptor	Normal	Increased	Normal to increased
Ratio of soluble transferrin receptor to log ferritin	Low (<1)	High (>2)	High (>2)
Cytokine Levels	Increased	Normal	Increased

Patients with both conditions include those with anemia of chronic disease and true iron deficiency.