Ferritin Levels by Age: The Chart That Does Not Exist

1. Is there a ferritin chart by age?

No. Search the test directories of NHS labs and you find adult ranges, paediatric ranges, and nothing in between. There is no band for your forties and a different one for your sixties.

Serum iron behaves quite differently across a life, which iron levels by age covers.

Two things explain that. The first is that a reference range is built by measuring a large group and keeping the middle. Labs partition that group where the difference is big enough to matter, and for ferritin the big difference is sex.

The second is that labs disagree with each other anyway. Royal United Hospitals Bath says so in its own guidance for GPs.

“Ferritin thresholds vary according to the local laboratory and there is debate within the literature regarding where the appropriate thresholds should be placed.”

— Royal United Hospitals Bath, ferritin interpretation for GPs

An age chart would add a second layer of precision on top of a threshold that is already argued over. So the range on your own report is the one that counts.

2. What UK ranges actually split on

Sex, and then menopause status. Here is what two NHS services publish for adults.

Notice how wide the adult range is. A woman at 11 and a woman at 310 both print as normal. That spread is why a single word on the report tells you so little, and why the gap between normal and optimal ferritin comes up so often.

RUH Bath also names a middle band worth knowing about. It suggests 11 to 100 in women and 24 to 100 in men is the range where inflammation, infection, or the influence of kidney, liver and heart conditions should be ruled out first.

3. The one age that moves a woman’s range

Monthly bleeding is the most common reason iron stores run down. When periods stop, that drain stops with them, and ferritin tends to drift up over the years that follow. Within a single month, though, your cycle moves serum iron far more than it moves ferritin.

Labs reflect that at the top of the range. Newcastle Hospitals treats a ferritin above 300 as a possible sign of iron overload in men and in post-menopausal women, but uses 200 for women who are still cycling. Same marker, different ceiling, and the thing that moved it was the menopause.

The bottom of the range is less settled. RUH Bath is candid about it: post-menopausal women may have a slightly higher lower limit of normal, but assay specific ranges are not available.

In plain terms, a 19 at 52 may sit differently from a 19 at 32, and UK labs do not yet have a published figure that says by how much. That is a fair reason to raise a low-normal result rather than let it pass. If your periods have been heavy on the way to the menopause, the blood tests worth doing for heavy periods covers what NICE asks for.

4. Children are a separate question

The adult figures above start at 16. Below that, ferritin is read differently, and Newcastle does not publish a do-it-yourself band at all. Its test directory says to consult a paediatric haematologist for interpretation.

So if you are reading a child’s result, none of the adult numbers on this page apply. Take it to your GP. Helvy tests adults only.

5. Why your decade still shows up in the number

The range does not move with age. Your result often does, for reasons that have nothing to do with a chart.

• Ferritin rises with inflammation as well as with iron. Long-term conditions become more common with age, and they lift the number.
• Years of heavy periods draw stores down slowly, so women often hit their lowest ferritin in their forties.
• After the menopause the drain stops and the number climbs back.
• Appetite and diet shift in later life, which changes how much iron goes in.

The first of those is the one that catches people out. A raised ferritin is far more often inflammation than too much iron, which is why a ferritin above the range needs reading in context.

It cuts the other way too. Inflammation can hold ferritin up while stores are genuinely low. RUH Bath suggests transferrin saturation when there is doubt, and says a saturation below 16% indicates iron deficiency. Our transferrin saturation guide reads that percentage properly.

6. Which blood test reports your ferritin

The marker is ferritin, reported in micrograms per litre. Helvy's Vitamins & Minerals panel (£159) reports it alongside iron, transferrin, transferrin saturation, TIBC, vitamin B12, folate, vitamin D and magnesium. That full set exists because one ferritin on its own is read in context or not read at all. The normal folate range is the one most often misread of the group.

Two honest boundaries. Vitamins & Minerals is the only Helvy panel that carries iron markers. And it is not a full anaemia screen, because that also needs a full blood count and a clinical judgement. A blood test measures biomarkers and offers wellness insight; it does not diagnose.

Take a morning sample and leave that day’s iron supplement off. If you have been taking iron for months with no change, iron tablets not working covers what people usually find. The build-my-test tool helps you pick markers.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides