{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T17:44:34Z","timestamp":1791567874839,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,14]],"date-time":"2023-03-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1678752000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Hematology Reports"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Introduction: Latent iron deficiency (LID), in which iron stores in the body are depleted without incidental anemia, poses a key diagnostic challenge. Reticulocyte hemoglobin content (Ret-Hb) is directly correlated with the functionally available iron for heme synthesis in erythroblasts. Consequently, Ret-Hb has been proposed as an efficient iron status marker. Aim: To assess the importance of Ret-Hb in detecting latent iron deficiency as well as its use in screening for iron deficiency anemia. Materials and Methods: A study involving 108 individuals was conducted at Najran University Hospital, 64 of whom had iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and 44 of whom had normal hemoglobin levels. All patients were subjected to complete blood count (CBC), reticulocyte percentage, Ret-Hb, serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), and serum ferritin measurements. Results: A significant decrease in Ret-Hb level was observed in IDA patients compared to non-anemic individuals, with a cut-off value of 21.2 pg (a value below which indicates IDA). Conclusion: The measurement of Ret-Hb, in addition to CBC parameters and indices, provides an accessible predictive marker for both iron deficiency (ID) and IDA. Lowering the Ret-Hb cut-off could better allow for its use as a screening parameter for IDA.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/hematolrep15010021","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,14]],"date-time":"2023-03-14T06:57:11Z","timestamp":1678777031000},"page":"201-211","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["Reticulocyte Hemoglobin as a Screening Test for Iron Deficiency Anemia: A New Cut-Off"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Abdullah I.","family":"Aedh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine Department, College of Medicine, Najran University, Najran 55461, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohamed S. M.","family":"Khalil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut 71515, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alaa S.","family":"Abd-Elkader","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut 71515, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohamed M.","family":"El-Khawanky","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Hematopathology, College of Medicine, Najran University, Najran 55461, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hamdan M.","family":"Alshehri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine Department, College of Medicine, Najran University, Najran 55461, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amr","family":"Hussein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo 11884, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ali A. Lafi","family":"Alghamdi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory Department, Prince Mishari bin Saud Hospital, Saudi Ministry of Health, Baljurashi 22888, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0391-306X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abdulkarim","family":"Hasan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory Department, Prince Mishari bin Saud Hospital, Saudi Ministry of Health, Baljurashi 22888, Saudi Arabia"},{"name":"Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo 11884, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"46","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1751-553X.2007.00901.x","article-title":"Evaluation of reticulocyte haemoglobin content as marker of iron deficiency and predictor of response to intravenous iron in haemodialysis patients","volume":"30","author":"Kim","year":"2008","journal-title":"Int. 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