greatest disparity in reference intervals between men and (non-pregnant) women

[Oak]

In which of the following laboratory tests would you expect to find the greatest disparity in reference intervals between men and (non-pregnant) women?

A. Mean corpuscular volume
B. Serum alkaline phosphatase
C. Serum ferritin
D. Serum glucose
E. Serum sodium

[kenneth masamaro]

Originally Posted by Oak

Kenneth one of your answer is correct its E here is the Explanation:

The correct answer is E. The normal blood hemoglobin concentration is about 15-16 g/dL for a man and about 13-14 g/dL for a woman. A patient is considered to be severely anemic when the hemoglobin concentration falls below 7.5 g/dL. In severely anemic patients, the resting cardiac output is significantly increased with an increase in both heart rate and stroke volume (choice C). The increase in stroke volume causes a widening of the pulse pressure, because when a greater amount of blood is ejected during each systole, the blood pressure rises and falls to a greater extent.

Bradycardia (choice A) is said to occur when the heart rate falls below 60 BPM. Severely anemic patients exhibit tachycardia, which is defined as a heart rate greater than 100 BPM.

Cyanosis (choice B) refers to a bluish color of the skin and mucous membranes that results from the presence of deoxygenated hemoglobin in the blood vessels, especially the capillaries. Cyanosis does not occur in severely anemic patients despite widespread hypoxia in the tissues because 5 grams of deoxygenated hemoglobin must be present in each 100 mL of blood to produce overt cyanosis. In other words, the hemoglobin concentration is too low for a severely anemic patient to become cyanotic.

The hands of anemic patients are often cold (choice D) because of decreased blood flow to the skin.

Just a question.. so what is the diagnosis of this patient?He is anemic, fine but secondary to what?I still feel tese symptoms are in keeping with hyperthyroidism?Please respond.

[Rajiv]

Originally Posted by Oak

In which of the following laboratory tests would you expect to find the greatest disparity in reference intervals between men and (non-pregnant) women?

A. Mean corpuscular volume
B. Serum alkaline phosphatase
C. Serum ferritin
D. Serum glucose
E. Serum sodium

Serum ferritin. Difference in [ferritin] is more than double.

[Oak]

Originally Posted by kenneth masamaro

Just a question.. so what is the diagnosis of this patient?He is anemic, fine but secondary to what?I still feel tese symptoms are in keeping with hyperthyroidism?Please respond.

Its a clear case of Anemia bust secondary to what is very difficult to say until we do the further investigation and look for the cause. If you want to go through the literature please go through this link

Chronic Anemia - eMedicine

[Oak]

Originally Posted by Medicus Heidelbergensis

Serum ferritin. Difference in [ferritin] is more than double.

Thats right, The correct answer is C.

Explanation:

The correct answer is C. Men have higher reference intervals than women in tests related to iron and hemoglobin (Hb) concentration in blood. The normal reference interval for Hb concentration in women is lower (12.0-16.0 gm/dL) than that for men (13.5-17.5 gm/dL) due to lower serum testosterone levels (testosterone is higher in men and stimulates erythropoiesis) and blood loss during menses. Furthermore, women normally have about 400 mg of iron (as ferritin) in their bone marrow iron stores versus an average of 1000 mg of iron for men. In the absence of inflammation, the small circulating fraction of ferritin (choice C) correlates well with ferritin stores in the bone marrow. Hence, men have different reference intervals for serum ferritin than do women (15-200 ng/mL in men versus 12-150 ng/mL in women).

The mean corpuscular volume (choice A), serum alkaline phosphatase (choice B), serum glucose (choice D), and serum sodium (choice E) are similar in both sexes.