Clinically, anemia of inflammation is diagnosed in patients with normocytic and normochromic anemia (normal MCV and normal MCHC, respectively) in whom there is evidence of systemic inflammation (increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate or CRP level) and evidence of iron restriction that is not caused by systemic iron deficiency (low transferrin saturation along with a high serum ferritin level). Here, CRP is linked to anemia (phenotype).