Iron Panel Results: Read All Six Lines Together

Type the lines your iron panel prints — serum iron, TIBC, UIBC, saturation, ferritin, transferrin; any of them, leave the rest empty. Each line is placed against the ranges its own checker uses, a line the report left out is worked out by the labs’ own formulas, and the panel’s sums are checked against what was printed. The sample below is a panel that adds up.

Your iron panel

All 5 lines inside every printed range The panel adds up

Serum iron 80 mcg/dL Inside both printed ranges

MedlinePlus (women) 37–145 mcg/dL: inside
Mayo Clinic Laboratories (women) 35–145 mcg/dL: inside

TIBC 320 mcg/dL Inside both printed ranges

MedlinePlus (women) 149–492 mcg/dL: inside
Mayo Clinic Laboratories 250–400 mcg/dL: inside

UIBC 240 mcg/dL Inside all 3 printed ranges

CDC NHANES manual (Roche method) 112–347 mcg/dL: inside
Labcorp sample report 111–343 mcg/dL: inside
Children’s Minnesota (Abbott method) (women) 70–310 mcg/dL: inside

Saturation 25% Inside all 3 printed ranges

MedlinePlus (women) 15–45%: inside
Mayo Clinic Laboratories 14–50%: inside
Cleveland Clinic 20–50%: inside

Ferritin 45 ng/mL Inside all 3 printed ranges

MedlinePlus (women) 13–150 ng/mL: inside
WHO (healthy women with periods) 15–150 ng/mL: inside
NIH ODS 30 ng/mL line: at or above

The panel’s own sums

✓ Iron + UIBC = TIBC: 80 + 240 = 320 mcg/dL — the TIBC printed is 320 mcg/dL. It adds up (the CDC’s NHANES lab manual: “The sum of serum iron and UIBC represents the total iron binding capacity (TIBC).”).
✓ Saturation: iron ÷ TIBC × 100 = 25% — the 25% printed matches (Mayo Clinic Laboratories: “Percent saturation = (Iron/TIBC) x 100”).

Every line you typed sits inside every printed range. The ranges printed beside each line on your own report are the ones your doctor reads it against.

Mayo Clinic Laboratories: “However, serum ferritin is a much more sensitive and reliable test for demonstration of iron deficiency.” Check a ferritin result.

This is not medical advice and it does not diagnose anything. It shows where each number sits against published ranges and whether the printed lines add up; what your panel means for you depends on your lab, your other results, your history and your doctor.

An iron panel prints up to six lines: serum iron, TIBC, UIBC, saturation, ferritin and sometimes transferrin. Type the lines your report shows to see where each one sits against its usual range and whether the panel adds up: iron + UIBC should equal TIBC, and iron ÷ TIBC × 100 should equal the saturation.

How to use it

Pick the units your report prints (US labs print iron, TIBC and UIBC in mcg/dL; many labs elsewhere print µmol/L) and the ranges for a woman who has periods, a woman who does not, or a man. Then type each line your report prints and leave the rest empty.

You see every line on one screen with the usual ranges beside it, any line your report left out worked out from the others (and marked as worked out), and the panel’s own sums. It won’t read a pattern or diagnose anything. For more on one line, its name links to its own checker.

What an iron panel is

Serum iron: the amount of iron in your blood.
Ferritin: how much iron is stored in your body.
Total iron-binding capacity (TIBC): how well iron attaches to transferrin and other proteins in your blood.
Transferrin: the protein that moves iron around your body.

An iron and TIBC panel usually includes the percent saturation, serum iron, TIBC and UIBC (unsaturated iron binding capacity). Ferritin and transferrin are usually ordered beside it as separate tests, which is why one report can carry four lines and another six.

How the lines fit together

Three of the lines are one sum. In an average person, about a third of transferrin’s binding capacity is in use, and the part still free is the UIBC. Add serum iron and UIBC and you get the TIBC.

Saturation is iron ÷ (iron + UIBC) × 100, which is the same as iron ÷ TIBC × 100. A TIBC can also be estimated from a transferrin (transferrin × 1.18), but transferrin handles only 50% to 70% of the iron binding capacity of serum and other proteins can bind iron too, so the two aren’t the same number.

So you can check a printed panel. If the iron plus the UIBC isn’t the TIBC printed, or the iron divided by the TIBC isn’t the saturation printed, either a line is mistyped or the lab measured its TIBC directly rather than adding it up.

The reader allows for rounding (3 mcg/dL or 0.5 µmol/L on the sum, 1.5 points on the saturation) and tells you which check is off. It never changes a printed number.

The ranges each line is placed against

Test	Women	Men	Unit
Serum iron — MedlinePlus	37–145	59–158	mcg/dL
Serum iron — Mayo Clinic Laboratories	35–145	50–150	mcg/dL
TIBC — MedlinePlus	149–492	171–505	mcg/dL
TIBC — Mayo Clinic Laboratories	250–400	250–400	mcg/dL
UIBC — CDC NHANES manual (Roche method)	112–347	112–347	mcg/dL
UIBC — Labcorp sample report	111–343	111–343	mcg/dL
UIBC — Children’s Minnesota (Abbott method)	70–310	69–240	mcg/dL
Saturation — MedlinePlus	15–45	20–50	%
Saturation — Mayo Clinic Laboratories	14–50	14–50	%
Saturation — Cleveland Clinic	20–50	20–50	%
Ferritin — MedlinePlus	13–150	30–400	ng/mL
Ferritin — WHO, healthy adults	15–150 with periods, 15–200 without	15–200	ng/mL
Ferritin — NIH ODS	30 line	30 line	ng/mL
Transferrin — Mayo Clinic Laboratories	200–360	200–360	mg/dL
Transferrin — Labcorp, 18 to 80	192–364	177–329	mg/dL
Transferrin — Cedars-Sinai	215–380	215–380	mg/dL

One common range for iron runs 59 to 158 mcg/dL (10.6 to 28.3 µmol/L) for men and 37 to 145 mcg/dL (6.6 to 25.9 µmol/L) for women. Where a range comes in US units only, the reader divides by 5.5845 to get µmol/L and marks it “converted”. Ferritin’s ng/mL and µg/L are the same number, and g/L is mg/dL ÷ 100.

A serum ferritin under 30 mcg/L suggests iron deficiency, and under 10 mcg/L suggests iron deficiency anemia.

Your lab’s range may differ slightly, and the one on your report is the one to use. This reader is for adults.

Ferritin first

Serum ferritin is a much more sensitive and reliable test for iron deficiency, and an iron and TIBC panel should not be the main test for it. If your panel has no ferritin line, it’s missing the most useful one, and the Ferritin Level Checker places a result by group.

Before the blood draw

Your provider may ask you to fast for 12 hours before the test, and you shouldn’t take iron-containing supplements for 24 hours before it. Iron varies through the day and may be higher in the morning, and your iron and saturation can shift by about 25% to 30% from one day to the next.

So two panels a week apart can differ without anything having changed. The Iron Timing Planner shows where an iron tablet sits in a day. Don’t stop any medicine before talking to your provider.

Worked examples

The sample panel, a woman who has periods: iron 80, TIBC 320, UIBC 240 mcg/dL, saturation 25%, ferritin 45 ng/mL — all 5 lines inside every printed range, and 80 + 240 = 320, 80 ÷ 320 × 100 = 25%: the panel adds up.
A man’s panel with a gap: iron 60, UIBC 300, TIBC 380 mcg/dL, saturation 20%, transferrin 300 mg/dL. Iron + UIBC is 360, 20 mcg/dL short of the TIBC printed, and 60 ÷ 380 × 100 is 15.8%, not 20% — two checks off, so a line is worth checking against the report. Transferrin × 1.18 gives 354 mcg/dL; the TIBC printed is 7% higher.
A report in µmol/L with no UIBC line, a woman with no periods: iron 14, TIBC 60 µmol/L, saturation 23%, ferritin 120 µg/L. The UIBC is worked out as 60 − 14 = 46 µmol/L and placed (marked as worked out); 14 ÷ 60 × 100 = 23.3% matches the 23% printed.
Iron 200 with a TIBC of 180 mcg/dL: the iron is more than the TIBC, which is the most iron transferrin can carry — the reader says so and works out no saturation from the two.

Common mistakes

Mixing units across lines. Iron, TIBC and UIBC share one unit on a report; a TIBC typed in µmol/L with an iron in mcg/dL makes every sum wrong. The reader flags a TIBC that only makes sense in the other unit.
Reading UIBC as an iron level. It’s the part of transferrin’s binding capacity that is still free, not the iron itself.
Treating a worked-out line as a measured one. A line this reader works out is marked so; the line your lab printed outranks it.
“Correcting” a printed number. If the sums do not add up, check the report or ask the lab — a lab that measures its TIBC directly can print a TIBC that is not exactly iron + UIBC.
Reading one line alone. One result outside the normal range doesn’t necessarily mean a health problem. Your provider will consider your symptoms, age, medical history and the results of other blood tests.

Frequently asked questions

What is an iron panel blood test?

A set of iron tests on one blood sample, usually percent saturation, serum iron, total iron binding capacity and unsaturated iron binding capacity. Ferritin and transferrin are often ordered with it.

What does an iron panel test include?

Usually serum iron, TIBC, UIBC and the transferrin saturation, often with a ferritin; some labs add a transferrin. This reader takes any of the six.

How do I read my iron panel results?

Line by line against the range your lab printed beside it — then the lines together: iron + UIBC = TIBC, and iron ÷ TIBC × 100 = the saturation. This reader places each line against the sources’ ranges and checks those sums; your doctor reads the whole panel with your history.

What is a normal iron panel?

There’s no one set of numbers. Iron runs 37 to 145 mcg/dL for women and 59 to 158 for men on one common range, and 35 to 145 and 50 to 150 on another. The other lines differ too (see the table above), and your lab’s range may differ slightly.

Do you need to fast for iron panel labs?

Often. Your provider may ask you to fast for 12 hours before the test, and you shouldn’t take iron-containing supplements for 24 hours before it. Ask the person who ordered the test.

Why doesn’t my iron plus UIBC equal my TIBC?

Either a number was mistyped or misread, or your lab measured its TIBC directly instead of adding iron and UIBC. The reader allows 3 mcg/dL (0.5 µmol/L) for rounding.

What are iron studies?

Another name for an iron panel, common on reports from labs outside the US. Type whichever lines it prints, and pick µmol/L if that is the unit beside the iron and the TIBC.

Is ferritin part of an iron panel?

Often ordered beside it, and it’s the most useful line for iron deficiency, a much more sensitive and reliable test.

Each line has its own checker: the Serum Iron Level Checker, the TIBC Level Checker, the UIBC Level Checker, the Iron Saturation Checker, the Ferritin Level Checker and the Transferrin Level Checker. For the red cells on the same blood test, the Hemoglobin Level Checker. Copper helps your body use iron; a copper or ceruloplasmin result goes in the Ceruloplasmin & Copper Level Checker.

Iron Panel Reader