Abstract: Objective　To investigate the clinical application significance of serum soluble transferrin receptor （sTfR） in diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia （IDA）. Methods　A total of 58 controls and 58 patients with IDA were enrolled in the study. Iron metabolism related indices such as sTfR， serum iron（Fe）， total iron binding capacity （TIBC）， transferrin saturation （TS）， transferrin （TF）， serum ferritin （SF）， hemoglobin （Hb）， mean corpuscular volume （MCV）， mean corpuscular hemoglobin （MCH）， mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration （MCHC） and red blood cell volume distribution width （RDW） were detected quantitatively. The data were analyzed by t test between groups and receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve. Results　The levels of sTfR were （46.40±9.43） nmol/L in IDA group and （15.45±2.95） nmol/L in control group. There were statistical significances between the sTfR levels of IDA and control groups （P<0.01）. The area under the ROC curve of sTfR was 0.971（P<0.01）. Conclusions　Serum sTfR can reflect iron storage in body correctly. The sTfR has a clinical application significance in the diagnosis of IDA.

Key words: Soluble transferrin receptor, Iron deficiency anemia, Clinical application significance