Background and aims Systemic lupus erythematosus is a common autoimmune disease occurring predominantly in women. Anaemia is common in SLE patients, the most commom cause of anaemia is anaemia of chronic disease. The key mediator of anaemia of chronic disease is Hepcidin.

The aim of this study was to determine the role of hepcidin in anaemia of chronic disease in SLE and its role in differentiation between ACD and IDA.

Methods The study was conducted on 50 patients with SLE (25 patient with ACD and 25 patient without anaemia), 20 patients with iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) and 15 healthy controls. All study persons underwent full clinical assessment, CBC, ESR, serum iron, TIBC, ferritin and hepcidin measured by ELISA.

Results Serum hepcidin was significantly higher in SLE group than IDA than control groups, with mean+SD in SLE group (7.8±3.4 mg/dl) compared to mean+SD (4.6±2.5 mg/dl) in IDA group and mean+SD (2.2±0.8) in the control group with P value<0.001, with sensitivity 75% and specificity 60% in detection of anaemia in general and with sensitivity 91% and specificity 67% in anaemia in SLE patients. Serum hepcidin was also significantly higher in SLE+a patients than SLE-a, with mean+SD in SLE+a group (9.6±3.5 mg/dl) compared to mean+SD in SLE-a group (5.6±2.8 mg/dl) with P value<0.001.

Conclusions The measurement of serum hepcidin is a useful lmarker for diagnosis of ACD in patients with SLE and its differentiation from IDA.

Serum hepcidin is both sensitive and specific for detection of anaemia in SLE patients, and is a useful marker for disease activity.