Zaman BA, Rasool SO, Merza MA, Abdulah DM. Hepcidin-to-ferritin ratio: A potential novel index to predict iron overload-liver fibrosis in ß-thalassemia major.
Transfus Clin Biol 2021;
29:153-160. [PMID:
34856399 DOI:
10.1016/j.tracli.2021.11.001]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2021] [Accepted: 11/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
We aimed to determine a threshold cutoff for hepcidin, ferritin, and the hepcidin-to-ferritin ratio in the diagnosis of liver fibrosis caused by iron overload in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV)-free ß-thalassemia major patients .
METHODS
This 1:1-matched case-control study included 102 individuals (3-30 yr.); 51 ß-thalassemia major patients with iron overload , and 51 apparently healthy individuals.
RESULTS
The highest areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC-ROCs) for the diagnosis of patients vs. controls had overlapping 95% confidence intervals (CIs): serum hepcidin (0.758; 0.64-0.87; P ˂ 0.001), serum ferritin (1.000; 1.00-1.00; P˂0.001), and the hepcidin/ferritin ratio (1.000; 1.00-1.00; P˂0.001). For differentiation of patients with liver fibrosis stages of F0-F1 vs. F2-F4 and F0-F1 vs. F3-F4, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) with P-values˂0.001 were the only statistically significant parameters, while the AUC-ROCs of the hepcidin/ferritin ratio (0.631, P=0.188 and 0.684, P=0.098) exhibited 90% and 89.5% sensitivity, respectively, in staging liver fibrosis.
CONCLUSION
Our results showed that the hepcidin/ferritin ratio is as effective as the APRI and maybe a better predictor for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis and discriminating its stages, with excellent sensitivity and specificity compared to its components.
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