Relationship between iron deficiency and microcytic anaemia factor in deferred blood donors

Abstract

Introduction: Beckman-Coulter hematology analyzers have used the Microcytic Anemia Factor (Maf®) as a simple and inexpensive screening tool for the early detection of iron deficiency (ID). Objective: to determine the relationship between iron deficiency and Maf^® and evaluate the diagnostic performance in the detection of iron deficiency in deferred applicants for blood donation. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study. We reviewed 159 clinical histories of postulants to donate blood deferred for having hemoglobin values lower than 12.5 gr/dl (women) and lower than 13.5 gr/dl (men) who attended the Hemotherapy and Blood Bank Service of the Cayetano Heredia Hospital in Lima-Peru. ID was categorized with ferritin values ≤ 30 ng/ml. Maf® was calculated with data obtained from the blood count using the formula Maf® = ((Hemoglobin x Mean Corpuscular Volume) /100)). The Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC) with the area under the curve (AUC) was used to predict ID. Results: 45.5% of female participants presented iron deficiency. A statistically significant relationship was found between ID and Maf® (p<0.001). The ROC analysis for Maf® and the diagnosis of DH showed an AUC of 0.9174 with a cut-off point of 8.97 (sensitivity 90% and specificity 81.16%). Conclusions: A significant association was found between iron deficiency and Maf®. In addition, this parameter has a good performance to discriminate ID in deferred applicants to donate blood.