Introduction: The distribution of causes of hyperferritinemia in international series is heterogeneous. Also, the association between ferritin and prognosis is controversial. This study aims to describe the diagnosis associated with hyperferritinemia in a retrospective cohort at an academic healthcare network in Chile.
Methods: A retrospective review of adult patients admitted to our academic medical center from June 2014 to February 2017 with ferritin ≥3,000 ng/mL. All patients were classified into nine diagnostic categories. Then, the association between ferritin level and disease category, as well as mortality, was evaluated.
Results: Ninety-nine patients were identified. The mean age was 50.8 ± 19.9 years, 54.5% were men. The most frequent categories were "inflammatory and autoimmune diseases" (21.2%) and "hematological malignancies" (19.2%). The average ferritin was 10,539 ± 13,016.9 ng/mL, while the higher mean was 16,707 ng/mL in the "inflammatory and autoimmune diseases" category. There was a statistically significant association between the ferritin value and age but not between ferritin and diagnostic categories. In the group over 50, hematologic neoplasms (19%) and infections (19%) were more frequent. In those under 50, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases were more frequent (26.8%). There was no association between the ferritin level and mortality at 1, 3, and 12 months.
Conclusions: The most frequent categories were "inflammatory and autoimmune diseases" and "hematological malignancies", but ferritin level was similar in both. Further research could validate a prognostic role.