Relationship of Baseline Hemoglobin Level with Serum Ferritin, Postphlebotomy Hemoglobin Changes, and Phlebotomy Requirements among HFE C282Y Homozygotes

Biomed Res Int. 2015:2015:241784. doi: 10.1155/2015/241784. Epub 2015 Aug 26.

Abstract

Objectives. We aimed to examine whether baseline hemoglobin levels in C282Y-homozygous patients are related to the degree of serum ferritin (SF) elevation and whether patients with different baseline hemoglobin have different phlebotomy requirements. Methods. A total of 196 patients (124 males and 72 females) who had undergone therapeutic phlebotomy and had SF and both pre- and posttreatment hemoglobin values were included in the study. Results. Bivariate correlation analysis suggested that baseline SF explains approximately 6 to 7% of the variation in baseline hemoglobin. The results also showed that males who had higher (≥150 g/L) baseline hemoglobin levels had a significantly greater reduction in their posttreatment hemoglobin despite requiring fewer phlebotomies to achieve iron depletion than those who had lower (<150 g/L) baseline hemoglobin, regardless of whether baseline SF was below or above 1000 µg/L. There were no significant differences between hemoglobin subgroups regarding baseline and treatment characteristics, except for transferrin saturation between male subgroups with SF above 1000 µg/L. Similar differences were observed when females with higher (≥138 g/L) baseline hemoglobin were compared with those with lower (<138 g/L) baseline hemoglobin. Conclusion. Dividing C282Y-homozygous patients into just two subgroups according to the degree of baseline SF elevation may obscure important subgroup variations.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Female
  • Ferritins / blood*
  • Hemochromatosis / blood*
  • Hemochromatosis / genetics
  • Hemochromatosis / therapy*
  • Hemochromatosis Protein
  • Hemoglobins / analysis*
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Membrane Proteins / genetics*
  • Middle Aged
  • Phlebotomy*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • HFE protein, human
  • Hemochromatosis Protein
  • Hemoglobins
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Ferritins