Background: Ferritin is the cellular storage of protein for iron, its present in small concentration in blood. The serum ferritin concentration normally correlates well with total body iron store making its measurement important in diagnosis of disorder of iron metabolism. Serum ferritin level values vary based on ethnicity, life style, and demographical data so it’s recommended for every country to establish its own normal serum ferritin values. The purpose of this study is to establish normal value for serum ferritin among health adults of Mwanza visiting inpatient hospitalized at BMC.
Methodology: This was a cross sectional study that will involve health adults estimation of serum ferritin level among health adult in Mwanza Tanzania. Pre tested data collecting tool (questionnaire) was used to collect demographic data and clinical data from the study participants. Venous blood were collected in plain tube then centrifuged and analyzed by using ferritin ELISA test. STATA version 13.0 was used for data analysis.
Results: Among 311 participants 229 (73.63%) were having serum ferritin of above 15ng/ml with the median of 39ng/ml. among 160 health female participants, their serum ferritin level ranged 4.3-110ng/ml and among 151 male participants their serum ferritin level ranged 7.05-250.2ng/ml. among 141 of (45.34%) were found to have body mass index of more or equal to 25. Anemia were seen in 57 participants (18.33%), among those who did complete blood count, the median hemoglobin for both sex was 14.4g/dl.
Conclusion and recommendation: Although reported means and ranged for serum ferritin in normal subject vary considerably there is general agreement that the reference interval for male is significantly higher than for females. The reference ranges of this study agree closely with the study which was done among Ghanaian adults in Ghana. Data from this preliminary study suggest serum ferritin of 15ng/ml could serve as cut off point for low serum ferritin in both male and female. Larger studies should be done on population with more tests like serum iron to establish serum ferritin ranges.