Laboratory diagnosis of iron deficiency in a developing country, Pakistan.

In developing countries, such as Pakistan, laboratories do not routinely screen for iron deficiency unless the patient presents with symptoms of anaemia. Efforts to prevent the often serious consequences of iron depletion are hampered in developing countries by the expense and impracticality of routinely screening patients using bone marrow examination. Assays for serum iron concentrations, total iron-binding capacity or haemoglobin and examinations of blood films, although more practical, cannot detect the earliest stages of iron deficiency.