Effects of Iron Deficiency and Its Indicators on Lymphocyte Subsets: A Study at King Fahd Hospital of the University, Saudi Arabia

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic data

	Iron-deficient patients		Controls
	n=64	%	n=19	%
Age, years
14–19	6	9.4	0	0
20–29	14	21.9	1	5.3
30–39	21	32.8	13	68.4
40–49	17	26.6	2	10.5
50–59	4	6.3	3	15.8
>60	2	3.1	0	0
Sex
Male	1	1.6	4	21.1
Female	63	98.4	15	78.9

Table 2 Hematological parameters

	Iron-deficient patients, n=64		Controls, n=19		p
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Hb (g/dL)	9.69	1.87	12.34	2.18	<0.001
MCV (fL)	69.9	8.62	82.8	6.83	<0.001
MCH (pg)	22.13	3.56	27.32	2.95	<0.001
Serum iron (µg/dL)	32.34	27.07	59.05	41.71	0.001
TIBC (µg/dL)	405.13	106.94	332.84	73.15	0.007
Ferritin (ng/mL)	13.82	45.87	103.94	109.70	<0.001
Platelets (10^3/µL)	286.23	109.58	253.84	47.98	0.215

Note: Bold font indicates statistical significance.

Table 3 Lymphocyte-subset parameters

	Iron-deficient patients (low ferritin), n=64		Controls, n=19		p
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
WBCs (10^3/µL)	6.37	2.63	6.62	3.18	0.738
Lymphocyte count (10^3/µL)	3.205	11.61	2.757	10.21	0.133
T-cell %	74.32	7.46	75.05	4.94	0.690
T-cell absolute count (cells/µL)	1,439.07	483.38	1,352.97	455.17	0.497
B-cell %	13.67	5	12.99	5.599	0.617
B-cell absolute count (cells/µL)	271.06	141.37	236.24	124.20	0.336
NK-cell %	11.44	6.79	11.21	4.73	0.887
NK-cell absolute count (cells/µL)	227.36	166.94	201.45	100.45	0.523
CD4%	44.01	6.80	43.59	6.37	0.812
CD4 absolute count (cells/µL)	858.82	311.48	791.19	302.50	0.405
CD8%	29.56	7.47	30.08	6.69	0.788
CD8 absolute count (cells/µL)	572.43	232	535.71	214.15	0.540
CD4:CD8 ratio	1.62	0.60	1.57	0.69	0.770

Table 4 Lymphocyte-subset parameters in relation to hemoglobin level among iron-deficient patients

	Nonanemic (Hb ˃11 g/dL) iron-deficient patients, n=20		Anemic (Hb ≤11 g/dL) iron-deficient patients, n=44		p
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
WBCs (10^3/µL)	5.47	1.56	6.78	2.92	0.064
Absolute lymphocyte count (10^3/µL)	3.733	12.12	2.965	10.65	0.013
T-cell %	71.28	9.02	75.71	6.26	0.026
T-cell absolute count (cells/µL)	1,498.91	526.031	1,411.88	466.38	0.509
B-cell %	13.80	5.95	13.61	4.58	0.890
B-cell absolute count (cells/µL)	284.17	125.37	256.10	149.06	0.621
NK-cell %	14.24	9.26	10.17	4.94	0.025
NK-cell absolute count (cells/µL)	316.34	231.89	186.92	108.24	0.003
CD4%	40.18	7.15	45.75	5.93	0.002
CD4 absolute count (cells/µL)	830.96	268.01	871.48	331.49	0.633
CD8%	29.86	8.03	29.43	7.30	0.836
CD8 absolute count (cells/µL)	632.15	270.97	545.28	209.77	0.167
CD4:CD8 ratio	1.48	0.64	1.68	0.58	0.213

Note: Bold font indicates statistical significance.

Table 5 Risk based on history of recurrent infections in relation to iron-deficiency indicators on logistic regression

	History of recurrent infections
	OR	CI	p
Hb (g/dL)	2.55	1.03–6.26	0.041
Serum ferritin (ng/mL)	3.70	1.26–10.83	0.01
Serum iron (µg/dL)	0.38	0.14–1.03	0.059
TIBC (µg/dL)	0.912	0.32–2.59	0.86

Notes: Bold font indicates statistical significance.