Serum Iron CDC guidelines for prevention, detection and treatment of iron deficiency
the concentration of serum iron increases after each meal
infections and inflammations can decrease the concentration
diurnal variation causes the concentration to rise in the morning and fall at night
The day-to-day variation of serum iron concentration within individuals is greater than that for Hb concentration and Hct
Notes:
Serum iron concentration is a measure of the total amount of iron in the serum and is often provided with results from other routine tests evaluated by automated, laboratory chemistry panels. Many factors can affect the results of this test. For example, the concentration of serum iron increases after each meal (71), infections and inflammations can decrease the concentration (69), and diurnal variation causes the concentration to rise in the morning and fall at night ( 100 ). The day-to-day variation of serum iron concentration within individuals is greater than that for Hb concentration and Hct (88,101 ).
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