Prospects of low-cost photometers for colorimetric serum iron concentration determination

Abstract

Iron is an essential element in the body that could cause harm to the body if there is deficiency or overload. Iron deficiency is a widespread nutritional disorder that affects the lives of a huge amount of people in the world and could lead to anemia if left untreated. Meanwhile, iron overload could lead to liver, heart problems or even death. Iron status is commonly diagnosed using sophisticated instruments, which are bulky and expensive. The need for a low-cost and portable iron body reader arises, as there are no such commercially available devices for this specific purpose. The serum iron concentration can be measured via colorimetric method using photometers. The colorimeter is commonly used to correlate the light absorbance and the concentration. This paper reviews the published works on developments of low-cost photometers. The possibility of developing a low-cost and portable colorimeter, specifically for measurement of serum iron was discussed. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.