Iron is an essential micronutrient of almost all organisms, which is involved in many metabolic processes. Disorders of serum iron balance that relate mainly to its deficiency are frequently observed in patients with liver diseases. The aim of the study was the evaluation of serum iron parameters in patients with different chronic liver diseases and analysis of the relationships between serum level of iron, ferritin and transferrin in women and men in groups examined.
Material and methods: The study includes 424 patients: 151 with alcoholic liver cirrhosis (ALC), 53 with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), 54 with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), 19 patients with hepatocellulare cancer (HOC), 34 with primary biliaris cirrhosis (PBC), 39 with chronic HCV hepatitis, 48 with chronic HBV hepatitis, 15 with primary sclerosans cholangitis (PSC) and 11 patients with hemochromatosis. Forty two healthy volunteers were the control group.
Results: The highest mean serum level of iron was observed in patients with hemochromatosis and was 278.56 +/- 25.04 mg/dl. The mean level of iron was statistically significant different in patients with HCC in comparison to the patients with ALC (p = 0.0000), with AIH (p = 0.0108) and NAFLD (p = 0.00768). The mean level of ferritin was statistically significantly higher among patients with hemochromatosis (p = 0.0000), with ALC (p = 0.0037) and NAFLD (p = 0.0442) than in the controls. Patients with AIH, HCC, HCV infection, PSC and hemochromatosis showed higher serum level of transferin than the controls (p = 0.0000). The mean level of iron and ferritin was lowerin women than in men in the patients with ALC (p = 0.0088, p = 0.0018 respectively). The mean level of ferritin was significantly lower in men than in women among patients with NAFLD. (p = 0.0065). There were no statistically significant differences in the mean level of examined parameters between the sexes.
Conclusion: Reduced serum level of iron is observed in chronic liver diseases. Elevated ferritin level is typical for patients with ALC and NAFLD. Differences in the level of iron, ferritin and transferin between men and women concemrn the patients with ALC while among patients with NAFLD only ferritin level differences are found.