Elevated Plasma Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin Level as a Risk Factor for Anemia in Patients with Systemic Inflammation
Table 1
Baseline characteristics of study population included in the study.
Patients (n = 187)
Healthy controls (n = 35)
P value
Anthropometric parameters
Age (years)
59 (28–74)
57 (29–72)
0.687
Gender (male, %)
91 (48.7)
17 (48.5)
0.953
BMI (kg/m2)
22.1 ± 3.6
23.0 ± 2.7
0.175
NGAL
Plasma NGAL level (ng/mL)
165 (76–320)
68 (53–89)
<0.001
NGAL > 156 ng/mL (n, %)
62 (33.1)
0 (0.0)
<0.001
Hematologic parameters
Hemoglobin (g/dL)
12.1 ± 2.5
14.9 ± 2.0
<0.001
Anemia (n, %)
76 (40.6)
0 (0.0)
<0.001
Erythrocytes (×1012/L)
3.99 ± 0.79
4.74 ± 0.62
0.002
Red cell distribution width (%)
14.0 ± 2.4
13.1 ± 1.2
0.003
Iron parameters
Serum iron (µg/dL)
43.7 ± 39.1
72.6 ± 35.3
<0.001
Transferrin saturation (%)
25.1 ± 24.3
32.7 ± 19.5
0.065
Serum ferritin (ng/mL)
282.7 (102.5–560.2)
41.0 (25.1–374.2)
<0.001
Renal parameters
eGRF (mL/min/1.73 m2)
85.7 ± 16.3
89.4 ± 9.5
0.512
Serum creatinine (mg/dL)
0.88 ± 0.15
0.83 ± 0.12
0.583
Inflammation indices
hsCRP (mg/dL)
3.60 (0.98–7.55)
0.09 (0.05–0.18)
<0.001
cESR (mm/h)
34.9 ± 29.8
4.2 ± 5.7
<0.001
Cardiac markers
Troponin-I (ng/mL)
0.1 (0.1–0.3)
0.1 (0.1–0.3)
0.652
CK-MB (ng/mL)
2.6 (1.3–5.8)
2.4 (1.1–4.1)
0.407
Data are expressed as median (interquartile range), mean ± SD, or frequency (%). BMI, body mass index; NGAL, neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; hsCRP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; cESR, corrected erythrocyte sedimentation rate; CK-MB, creatine kinase-MB.