Assessment of iron status in Sudanese patients with low red cell indices irrespective of their Hb values in Soba Hospital

This is a prospective study which was conducted at Soba University Hospital ( University of Khartoum) in the period from October 2002 April 2003. The aim of this study was to assess the iron status in patients with low red cell indices regardless of their haemoglobin values . 80 patients and 20 controls were included in this study . All controls had normal Hb and red cell indices. All studied patients had reduction of one or more red cell indices namely MCH, MCV, and MCHC, 58 of them had low Hb values as well, while 22 had normal Hb values . Iron status were assessed in all patients and controls. Results showed that: of the 58 anaemic patients with low indices, 32.8 % were suffering from iron deficiency anaemia, 48.2 % were suffering from anaemia of chronic disease while 19 % had normal iron profile . 50 % of the 22 non-anaemic patients with low indices show evidence of iron deficiency, 13.6 % showed abnormal iron profile due to chronic conditions while 36.6 % had normal iron profile . Of the 20 controls; 18 ( 90 %) had normal iron profile while 2 (10%) showed evidence of subclinical iron deficiency . It was concluded that 81% of anaemic patients with low indices showed abnormal iron status either due to obvious iron deficiency or chronic diseases while only 19 % had normal iron profiles .These may need further investigation to exclude other causes of hypochromic anaemia. 63.6 % of non-anaemic patients showed abnormal iron status either due to iron deficiency or associated chronic diseases but a significant number 36.6 % had unexplained reduction of red cell indices despite of normal Hb levels and normal iron status . It is suggested that this can be either due to mild haemoglobinopathies or most probably a machine error