Hematocritin In Sports

Determining and diagnosing iron deficiencies remains an extremely difficult task due to increased plasma volume, inability to determine a “normal” ferritin level, and lack of standard testing procedures to identify the condition. Athletes generally show increased blood plasma volume, thereby altering results of an iron deficiency test. Hematocrit, the percentage of blood volume composed of formed elements, is often referenced when determining the erythrocyte concentration in a person’s blood. According to Gusmer and Dengel, low to normal hematocrit levels (42 to 52 percent in males and 37 to 47 percent in females) and a slightly higher number of red blood cells allows the best transport of oxygen throughout the body, thus optimizing performance.

Hutchinson identifies the somewhat-designated “normal” ferritin threshold for athletes is 30 micrograms per liter. Despite sports medicine researcher Laura Garvican’s goal of maintaining a “perfect” ferritin level of 60 micrograms per liter, the author suggests this may be a challenge for most athletes (“Ferritin and Fatigue”). The inability of the author and the sports doctor to establish a specific and universal minimum level of ferritin for athletes displays the difficulty in determining the standard numerical value for defining an iron deficient individual. There is a large difference between the tentative standard threshold of 30 micrograms of ferritin per liter and the sports doctor’s personal preference of twice that amount, signifying the large variance between individual athletes, believed healthy levels, and controversy over the minimum amount of iron needed to execute competitive performances. Finally, there are no current universal procedures used to detect and diagnose performance-inhibiting iron levels in training

The authors discovered that 43 percent of 55 Division-1A schools regularly test their athletes for reduced iron levels, but the procedure to find an athlete’s iron levels, including frequency of screening, diagnostic parameters, and treatment, was extremely different from school to school (Gusmer 14). Variability and infrequency led the authors to conclude that there are no standard testing or treatment procedures in college running programs, thus lessening the awareness of the issue iron deficiencies in training athletes. If the protocols for determining if an athlete is iron deficient are different in various running programs, it becomes increasingly difficult to accurately conclude if the individual in question has or does not have reduced iron levels. Therefore, it is imperative that the medical community set standards for the assessment and treatment of iron deficiencies in order to prevent more athletes from facing competitive setbacks and restore unhealthy athletes to adequate iron levels. Without standard procedures, it is nearly impossible to determine an individual’s status as iron-deficient or within the normal