Ferritin: What Your Result Means

What is Ferritin?

Ferritin stores intracellular iron, leaking small amounts into serum proportionally to reserves. Below ~30 ng/mL means genuinely empty warehouses even with normal hemoglobin. The catch: inflammation, liver disease, and metabolic syndrome independently elevate ferritin, masking true deficiency in sick populations.

Typical reference interval: Men ~30–400 ng/mL, women ~15–200 ng/mL — wide intervals reflecting population variance.. Laboratories differ — the interval printed on YOUR report always governs.

If your Ferritin is high

Common reasons Ferritin runs above the reference interval:

• Inflammation/infection — CRP rises alongside — check it before declaring iron overload
• Liver disease — hepatocyte leakage
• Metabolic syndrome/alcoholic fatty liver — ferritin 400–1000 commonly
• Hereditary hemochromatosis — considered with transferrin saturation >45% + genetics
• Repeated transfusions — iatrogenic loading
• Hyperthyroidism, adult-onset Still's — specialty associations

If your Ferritin is low

Common reasons Ferritin runs below the reference interval:

• Iron deficiency — values <30 = depleted; <15 = absent stores
• Pre-depletion — falls BEFORE hemoglobin does — earliest warning available

Symptoms worth knowing

Deficiency without anemia still causes fatigue, restless legs, hair shedding, brittle nails, ice cravings (pagophagia), and exercise intolerance — treating symptoms at ferritin <30–50 helps many patients despite 'normal-range' appearances.

What usually happens next

1. Always pair with CRP when elevated — inflammation invalidates the high reading
2. Transferrin saturation >45% + high ferritin → hemochromatosis gene testing
3. Iron deficiency found → FIND THE SOURCE in men and postmenopausal women (endoscopy) — never just supplement blindly

Frequently asked questions about Ferritin results