Diagnosis of Iron Deficiency: A Condensed Diagnostic Reference to the ASH 2026 Guidelines

A condensed diagnostic reference summarizing the diagnostic recommendations of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2026 Guidelines for the Diagnosis of Iron Deficiency, published in September 2026. This document presents the guideline's population-specific serum ferritin thresholds, the role of transferrin saturation in adults with anemia of inflammation, diagnostic algorithms, special-population considerations, laboratory test characteristics, limitations, precautions, and key recommendations. The summary is intended as a practical educational reference for clinicians, trainees, researchers, and students. It focuses specifically on the diagnostic recommendations of the guideline and does not reproduce the complete guideline. All diagnostic thresholds, recommendation strengths, and certainty-of-evidence ratings presented in this summary are those reported by the ASH guideline. This document is an independent secondary summary and is not an official publication of the American Society of Hematology. The full ASH guideline should be consulted before applying recommendations in clinical practice. Primary source:Powers JM, Lim MY, Achebe MO, Akpan IJ, Auerbach M, Brown MC, et al. American Society of Hematology 2026 guidelines for diagnosis of iron deficiency. Blood Adv. 2026 Sep 16. doi:10.1182/bloodadvances.2025015950.