OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression level of erythropoietin (EPO) and ferritin before and after treatment of patients with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) so as to explore their clinical significance in diagnosis and discrimination.

METHODSThe EPO and ferritin levels in serum of 37 patients with IDA were determined by using chemiluminescence analysis (CLIA method) and electrical chemiluminescence analysis (ECLIA method), 30 healthy people were randomly selected as normal controls.

RESULTS(1) the sEPO level in IDA patients of group before treatment, group treated for 1 month and group treated for 2 months was higher than that in normal control group (P < 0.05). The level of sEPO of IDA patients in different groups after treatment was lower than that in IDA patients of groups before treatment, along with improvement of anemia status, the level of EPO was gradually reduced, and the level of sEPO in patients of group treated for 3 months was not statistical significant in comparison with that in normal control (P > 0.05). The level of ferritin in IDA patients before and after treatment was lower than that in normal control group (P < 0.05). The level of ferritin in IDA patient of groups after treatment was all higher than that in patients of groups before treatment, but comparision of serum ferritin level in patients of groups after treatment did not show statistical significance. (2) The level of logEPO in IDA patient before and after treatment was negatively related with level of Hb, but the level of ferritin in IDA patients was positively related with the level of Hb before treatment (r = 0.449, P = 0.005), the level of ferritin in patients of different group after treatment and in normal group did not related with level of HB. (3) The level of serum EPO in patients of severe anemia group was obviously higher than that in patients of moderate and mild anemia groups, and along with aggravation of anemia, the EPO level was gradually arised.

CONCLUSIONThe serum EPO is involved in the process of erythrocyte hematopoiesis, and can indicate the level of anemia, its sensitivity for anemia is higher than that of ferritin, and has important clinical value for evaluating status of diseases, observing therapeutic efficacy and judging prognosisi of IDA.