ABSTRACT
Iron deficient state occurs commonly in the athlets, and the cause may be inadequate iron intake, loss of iron from sweat, blood loss of gastrointestinal tract, and hematuria. The age of the athletes ranged from 11 to 17 years old. I messured red blood cell count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and related hematologic factors in the 32 adolescent female athletes and 21 female controls. a hematologic comparison was perfomed between the athletes and controls. The results obtained were as follows: 1) A value of hemoglobin were 11.6+/-1.4g/dl in the athletes and 12:4+/-0.8g/dl in controls (p<0.05). 2) Hematocrits were 34.1+/-3.4% in the athletes and 37.4+/-2.3% in controls (p<0.05). 3)A value of red bolld cell distribution width values were 13.9+/-2.1% in the athletes and 12.2+/-1.1% in controls (p<0.05). 4) Serum iron was 87.7+/-30.3ug/dl in the athletes and 121.8+/-39.0ug/dl in controls (p<0.001). 5) Total iron binding capacity was 445:6+/-31.8ug/dl in the athletes and 384:6+/-54.2ug/dl in controls (p<0.001). 6) Mean transferrin saturation values were 19.7+/-6.9% in the athletes and 32.5+/-10.8% in control (p<0.001). 7) Ferritin was 14.5+/-10.0ng/ml in the athletes and 33.9+/-13.9ng/ml in controls (p<0.001). 8) The duration of exercise was 4.8+/-2.5 years in the stage III iron deficiency, whil 3.0+/-2.0 years in normal group in iron deficient state (p<0.05).