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 — and each has its own printed range. Type the lines your report shows: each one is placed against the same sources its own checker uses, and the panel’s arithmetic is checked: 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 sources’ ranges beside it, a line your report left out worked out from the others (and marked as worked out), and the panel’s own sums. It does not read a pattern and it does not diagnose anything: it places numbers and quotes the sources. For the detail on one line, its name links to its own checker.

What an iron panel is

MedlinePlus: “There are different types of iron tests.” It lists the “Serum iron test, which measures the amount of iron in the blood”, the “Ferritin blood test, which measures how much iron is stored in the body”, the “Total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), which measures how well iron attaches to transferrin and other proteins in the blood” and the “Transferrin test, which measures transferrin, a protein that moves iron throughout the body”. Labcorp’s Iron and TIBC panel (test 001321) includes: “Percent of saturation; serum iron; total iron binding capacity; 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. The CDC’s NHANES lab manual: “In an average person about one-third of transferrin’s binding capacity is utilized.” “The remaining binding capacity is referred to as the unsaturated iron binding capacity (UIBC).” “The sum of serum iron and UIBC represents the total iron binding capacity (TIBC).” Its lab computes it as “The calculation for TIBC is executed in StarLIMS: FE + UIBC = TIBC”, and the saturation as “The calculation for iron saturation is executed in StarLIMS: (FE/(FE+UIBC))*100”. Mayo Clinic Laboratories prints the same saturation as “Percent saturation = (Iron/TIBC) x 100”, and estimates a TIBC from a transferrin as “Total iron-binding capacity (TIBC) = Transferrin x 1.18” — while Labcorp warns: “Transferrin is responsible for 50% to 70% of the iron binding capacity of serum. Since other proteins may bind iron, transferrin is not the same as TIBC.”

So a printed panel can be checked. If the iron plus the UIBC is not the TIBC printed, or the iron divided by the TIBC is not the saturation printed, one of the lines 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; that allowance is ours) and says which check is off. It never changes a printed number: the number your lab printed is the one placed. Transferrin × 1.18 is shown beside a printed TIBC but never called wrong, because labs use different methods and Labcorp says the two are not the same number.

The ranges each line is placed against

Adult ranges, as each source prints them (US units; the reader converts µmol/L and g/L)
Line — source	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

MedlinePlus prints its iron and TIBC ranges in both units — “Iron: Males: 59 to 158 mcg/dL (10.6 to 28.3 micromol/L); Females: 37 to 145 mcg/dL (6.6 to 25.9 micromol/L)” — and the reader uses its µmol/L edges as printed. Every other source prints US units only, so in µmol/L the reader divides by 5.5845 (iron’s atomic weight; ferritin’s ng/mL and µg/L are the same number; g/L is mg/dL ÷ 100) and says “converted”. The WHO’s 15 is its deficiency line for healthy people over 5, and 150 and 200 its iron-overload lines; the NIH ODS: “A serum ferritin concentration that is lower than 30 micrograms/liter (mcg/L) suggests iron deficiency, and a value lower than 10 mcg/L suggests IDA.” MedlinePlus: “Normal value ranges may vary slightly among different laboratories.” This reader is for adults.

Ferritin first

Mayo Clinic Laboratories says it on its iron and TIBC page: “However, serum ferritin is a much more sensitive and reliable test for demonstration of iron deficiency.” And: “This test should not be used as the primary test for iron deficiency.” A panel without a ferritin line is missing the line the sources rank first — the Ferritin Level Checker places one against the NIH’s and the WHO’s lines, by group.

Before the blood draw

MedlinePlus: “Your provider may ask you to fast (not eat or drink) for 12 hours before your test.” “The amount of iron in your blood varies throughout the day and may be higher in the morning.” Mayo Clinic Laboratories: “For 24 hours before collection, patient should not take iron-containing supplements.” “The intraindividual day-to-day variation of iron and iron saturation is approximately 25% to 30%.” 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. “Do not 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, which Labcorp’s “not the same as TIBC” allows.
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 is the part of transferrin’s binding capacity that is still free, not the iron itself. The CDC manual: “The remaining binding capacity is referred to as the unsaturated iron binding capacity (UIBC).”
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. Cleveland Clinic: “But one result outside the normal range doesn’t necessarily mean you have a health problem.” MedlinePlus: “To understand the results of your iron test, 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. Labcorp’s Iron and TIBC panel includes “Percent of saturation; serum iron; total iron binding capacity; unsaturated iron binding capacity”; ferritin and transferrin are often ordered with it. MedlinePlus: “There are different types of iron tests.”

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 is no one set of numbers: MedlinePlus prints iron of 37 to 145 mcg/dL for women and 59 to 158 for men, Mayo Clinic Laboratories 35 to 145 and 50 to 150, and the TIBC, UIBC, saturation and ferritin ranges differ between sources too (the table above). MedlinePlus: “Normal value ranges may vary slightly among different laboratories.”

Do you need to fast for iron panel labs?

Often. MedlinePlus: “Your provider may ask you to fast (not eat or drink) for 12 hours before your test.” Mayo Clinic Laboratories: “For 24 hours before collection, patient should not take iron-containing supplements.” 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 CDC manual’s lab adds them (“FE + UIBC = TIBC”). 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 the sources rank it first. Mayo Clinic Laboratories: “However, serum ferritin is a much more sensitive and reliable test for demonstration of iron deficiency.”

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 (MedlinePlus); a copper or ceruloplasmin result goes in the Ceruloplasmin & Copper Level Checker.

Iron Panel Reader