Diurnal variation of serum iron, iron-binding capacity, transferrin saturation, and ferritin levels

Serum iron levels vary throughout the day. Morning levels are generally assumed to be higher than afternoon or evening levels. We studied whether our practice of restricting serum iron collections to the morning was necessary. Serum iron, iron-binding capacity, transferrin saturation, and ferritin l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican journal of clinical pathology Vol. 117; no. 5; pp. 802 - 808
Main Authors DALE, Jane C, BURRITT, Mary F, ZINSMEISTER, Alan R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago, IL American Society of Clinical Pathologists 01.05.2002
Subjects
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Blood Specimen Collection - methods
Circadian Rhythm - physiology
Female
Ferritins - blood
Humans
Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects)
Iron - blood
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous. Technology
Pathology. Cytology. Biochemistry. Spectrometry. Miscellaneous investigative techniques
Protein Binding
Reproducibility of Results
Transferrin - metabolism
Human
Reference value
Transferrin
Biochemical analysis
Hemochromatosis
Healthy subject
Saturation
Ferritin
Metabolic diseases
Iron
Diurnal variation
Enzymopathy
Genetic disease
Binding capacity
Clinical biology
Serum
Quantitative analysis
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Summary:Serum iron levels vary throughout the day. Morning levels are generally assumed to be higher than afternoon or evening levels. We studied whether our practice of restricting serum iron collections to the morning was necessary. Serum iron, iron-binding capacity, transferrin saturation, and ferritin levels were determined on blood specimens obtained from 20 healthy adult volunteers at 8 AM, noon, and 4 PM (day 1) and 8 AM (day 2). Although statistically significant differences among mean values for the collection times were observed for iron, iron-binding capacity, and (log) ferritin, no consistent diurnal variation was seen. Morning iron levels were higher than afternoon levels for only half of the subjects. Between-day variation for all 4 analytes was similar to within-day variation. We conclude that the practice of restricting iron specimen collections to a specific time of day does not improve the reliability of the test result.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:0002-9173
1943-7722
DOI:10.1309/2yt4-cmp3-kyw7-9rk1