ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and led to worldwide pandemic in March 2020. Due to early diagnose, treatment and prevent transmission of COVID-19 disease, we need rapid laboratory tests and develop them. This paper focuses on serum Iron level in patients with COVID-19. We assess the serum Iron level due to the following reasons: I. Iron is a key part of hemoglobin structure in which is essential for providing Oxygen to the body organs, particularly for the patients with pulmonary involvement such as COVID-19. II. Iron deficiency can contribute to muscle weakness and reduction of respiratory capacity, at which increases the risk of deterioration of COVID-19 patients. III. Elevation in Hepcidin level (due to the increase in IL-6 level) in COVID-19 patients inhibits Iron absorption from intestinal lumen and blocks the Iron release from macrophages. IV. Iron is an essential element in infectious suppress and inflammatory process. We noticed that most of the patients, especially admitted to hospital due to the respiratory symptoms, have lower serum Iron level.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of serum ferrum, TIBC and ferritin's circadian rhythm in normal adults and to prepare a standard to determine the examination material extraction time. METHOD: Nine women and ten men made up the convenience sample for this study. they were from the staff of D university hospital and students in D medical School located in K city who met the qualifications for inclusion in the sample. The value of serum ferrum, TIBC and circadian rhythm were calculated as follows; First, each variable's amplitude, the acrophase and average were measured for a 24 hour cycle using the cosinor method, and then each person's rhythm was analyzed. RESULTS: There were significant serum iron circadian rhythm for both men and women (p<.05). For the men, mesor was 105.91 microgram/dl, amplitude was 29.52 microgram/dl, and the acrophase was 9.76 hour. For the women, mesor was 108.17 microgram/dl, amplitude was 28.09 microgram/dl, and the acrophase was 11.42 hour. The rhythm change of TIBC was only significant for the women (p<.05), mesor was 383.39 mg/dl, amplitude was 60.29 mg/dl, and the acrophase was 14.93hour. As for the circadian rhythm of the ferritin, there are no diurnal variation in either sex, men were between 134.0 ng/ml and 137.4 ng/ml, and women, between 29.1 ng/ml and 30.1 ng/ml. CONCLUSION: To help diagnose the boundary line between normal or deficiency in iron, measurement should be carried out at a fixed time in the morning and evening, or a more proper time would be in the afternoon at the time when the width of amplitude is the least.