Association between serum ferritin and outcomes in critically ill patients:a retrospective analysis of a large intensive care unit database

To the Editor:Critically ill patients are always complicated with systematic inflammation causing organ dysfunction,even multiple organ dysfunction syndrome(MODS)or sepsis,which commonly contributes to mortality in intensive care unit(ICU).It was originally thought that ferritin plays an important role in the hematopoietic system for its iron storage capacity.Recently,it was reported that the raised plasma ferritin is correlated with a poor prognosis of diseases.The level of ferritin could not only reflect disease activity,but also may predict the outcomes.[1]The relationship between plasma ferritin and clinical outcomes of critically ill or sepsis patients remained controversial.