New Thresholds for Iron Deficiency ASH guidelines raise ferritin cutoffs across key patient groups in an effort to improve the consistency and earlier diagnosis of iron deficiency October 5, 2026 3 min The Pathologist Share Takeaways Listen Quiz Poll 1 The American Society of Hematology recommends higher serum ferritin thresholds for diagnosing iron deficiency. 2 New guidelines aim to identify patients with low iron stores that may have previously gone unrecognized. 3 ASH recommends a ferritin threshold of 20 ng/mL for children aged 9 months to 4 years and 30 ng/mL for adults. 4 Diagnosis of iron deficiency in adults with inflammation is recommended when ferritin is below 100 ng/mL. 5 ASH encourages laboratories to adopt evidence-based clinical decision limits for ferritin testing.
