Who developed these guidelines?
The American College of Physicians (ACP) developed these recommendations. Members of ACP are internal medicine doctors (internists), specialists in the care of adults.
What is the problem and what is known about it so far?
Hereditary hemochromatosis is a disease in which an abnormal gene causes the body to absorb too much iron from food. Iron builds up in body organs, which can lead to serious liver damage (cirrhosis), diabetes, heart failure, arthritis, and skin discoloration. Most people do not know that they have hemochromatosis until organ damage occurs. If the condition is identified early, organ ...
Author, Article, and Disclosure Information
The summary below is from the full reports titled “Screening for Hereditary Hemochromatosis: A Clinical Practice Guideline from the American College of Physicians” and “Screening Primary Care Patients for Hereditary Hemochromatosis with Transferrin Saturation and Serum Ferritin Level: Systematic Review for the American College of Physicians.” They are in the 4 October 2005 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine (volume 143, pages 517-521 and pages 522-536, respectively). The first report was written by A. Qaseem, M. Aronson, N. Fitterman, V. Snow, K.B. Weiss, and D. Owens, for the Clinical Efficacy Assessment Subcommittee of the American College of Physicians; the second report was written by B. Schmitt, R.M. Golub, and R. Green.
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