evaluation of the relationship between serum and urine ferritin level of low birth weight infants

Background & objective: iron deficiency before birth or in infancy can cause long-term behavioral and neurological disorders. measuring serum ferritin is an effective way to diagnose iron deficiency but requires significant blood volume from a low birth weight infant. therefore, the present study was performed to investigate the relationship between serum and urinary ferritin levels in low birth weight infants. methods: in this cross-sectional study, 76 infants weighing less than 2500 g were studied. to measure serum ferritin level, 1.5 ml of blood and to measure urinary ferritin level, at least 1 ml of urine was collected from each infant. then the results were compared. data analysis was performed using spss software version 16, and the significance level was considered less than 0.05. results: out of 76 neonates studied, 51.3% were boys, and 80.3% were premature infants. the mean birth weight of infants was 2056.31±318.74 g, and the mean serum and urinary ferritin levels were 134.77±72.35 and 85.55±70.97 ng, respectively. there was a statistically significant relationship between serum and urinary ferritin levels. also, serum ferritin and urinary ferritin levels had a statistically significant relationship with birth weight and gestational age. the higher the birth weight as well as the age at birth, the higher the serum ferritin and urinary ferritin. conclusion: according to the findings of this study, measurement of urinary ferritin level can be used as a noninvasive tool for iron deficiency screening in low birth weight infants instead of serum ferritin level .