Association Between Baseline Serum Ferritin and Short-term Outcome of Intracerebral Hemorrhage: A Meta-Analysis.

Background: Intracerebral hemorrhage is a devastating disease. In recent years, the association of between baseline serum ferritin and prognosis of intracerebral hemorrhage is an interesting issue. Although some of the studies have shown that baseline serum ferritin can predict the prognosis of intracerebral hemorrhage, there is no clear evidence that baseline serum ferritin can be used as an independent predictor of intracerebral hemorrhage.

Methods: Electronic databases through November 2018 were searched to identify relevant studies that examined association between baseline serum ferritin and prognosis of intracerebral hemorrhage.

Results: We found 7 eligible studies that included 411 participants. Our results showed that among them, 216 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage of poorer functional outcome were associated with elevated serum ferritin at admission. The results of 7 literature meta-analysis showed that intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients with favorable shot-term functional outcome had lower baseline serum ferritin levels, with significant mean differences of -70.85 (95% confidence intervals -134.26, -7.43).

Conclusions: This meta-analysis showed that baseline serum ferritin level at admission may predict the short-term prognosis of patients with ICH, and may provide a new target for intracerebral hemorrhage therapy.