Higher ferritin levels, but not serum iron or transferrin saturation, are associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult men and women free of genetic haemochromatosis
Context - Iron overload predisposes to diabetes and higher ferritin levels have been associated with diabetes. However, it is unclear whether ferritin reflects differences in iron-related parameters between diabetic and nondiabetic persons. We examined associations of serum ferritin, iron and transf...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Blackwell Publishing Ltd
2015
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| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1021326 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4510 |
| _version_ | 1848744536003575808 |
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| author | Yeap, B. Divitini, M. Gunton, J. Olynyk, John Beilby, J. McQuillan, B. Hung, J. Knuiman, M. |
| author_facet | Yeap, B. Divitini, M. Gunton, J. Olynyk, John Beilby, J. McQuillan, B. Hung, J. Knuiman, M. |
| author_sort | Yeap, B. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Context - Iron overload predisposes to diabetes and higher ferritin levels have been associated with diabetes. However, it is unclear whether ferritin reflects differences in iron-related parameters between diabetic and nondiabetic persons. We examined associations of serum ferritin, iron and transferrin saturation with Type 2 diabetes in adults without genetic predisposition to iron overload. Design, participants and measurements - Cross-sectional analysis of community-dwelling men and women aged 17–97 years from the Busselton Health Survey, Western Australia. Men and women carrying genotypes associated with haemochromatosis (C282Y/C282Y or C282Y/H63D) were excluded. Serum ferritin, iron and transferrin saturation were assayed. Results - There were 1834 men (122 with diabetes, 6·6%) and 2351 women (141 with diabetes, 6%). In men, higher serum ferritin was associated with diabetes after adjusting for age, smoking, alcohol, cardiovascular history, body mass index (BMI), waist, blood pressure, lipids, C-reactive protein (CRP), adiponectin, alanine transaminase (ALT) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) [odds ratio (OR): 1·29 per 1 unit increase log ferritin, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1·01–1·65, P = 0·043]. In women, higher serum ferritin was associated with diabetes [fully adjusted OR: 1·31 per 1 unit increase log ferritin, 95% CI = 1·04–1·63, P = 0·020; 1·84 for tertile (T) 3 vs T1, 95% CI = 1·09–3·11]. Neither iron levels nor transferrin saturation were associated with diabetes risk in men or women. Higher ferritin was not associated with insulin resistance in nondiabetic adults. Conclusions - In adults, higher ferritin levels are independently associated with prevalent diabetes while iron and transferrin saturation are not. Ferritin is a robust biomarker for diabetes risk, but further investigation is needed to clarify whether this relationship is mediated via iron metabolism. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:03:01Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-4510 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:03:01Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Blackwell Publishing Ltd |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-45102019-02-19T05:34:53Z Higher ferritin levels, but not serum iron or transferrin saturation, are associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult men and women free of genetic haemochromatosis Yeap, B. Divitini, M. Gunton, J. Olynyk, John Beilby, J. McQuillan, B. Hung, J. Knuiman, M. Context - Iron overload predisposes to diabetes and higher ferritin levels have been associated with diabetes. However, it is unclear whether ferritin reflects differences in iron-related parameters between diabetic and nondiabetic persons. We examined associations of serum ferritin, iron and transferrin saturation with Type 2 diabetes in adults without genetic predisposition to iron overload. Design, participants and measurements - Cross-sectional analysis of community-dwelling men and women aged 17–97 years from the Busselton Health Survey, Western Australia. Men and women carrying genotypes associated with haemochromatosis (C282Y/C282Y or C282Y/H63D) were excluded. Serum ferritin, iron and transferrin saturation were assayed. Results - There were 1834 men (122 with diabetes, 6·6%) and 2351 women (141 with diabetes, 6%). In men, higher serum ferritin was associated with diabetes after adjusting for age, smoking, alcohol, cardiovascular history, body mass index (BMI), waist, blood pressure, lipids, C-reactive protein (CRP), adiponectin, alanine transaminase (ALT) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) [odds ratio (OR): 1·29 per 1 unit increase log ferritin, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1·01–1·65, P = 0·043]. In women, higher serum ferritin was associated with diabetes [fully adjusted OR: 1·31 per 1 unit increase log ferritin, 95% CI = 1·04–1·63, P = 0·020; 1·84 for tertile (T) 3 vs T1, 95% CI = 1·09–3·11]. Neither iron levels nor transferrin saturation were associated with diabetes risk in men or women. Higher ferritin was not associated with insulin resistance in nondiabetic adults. Conclusions - In adults, higher ferritin levels are independently associated with prevalent diabetes while iron and transferrin saturation are not. Ferritin is a robust biomarker for diabetes risk, but further investigation is needed to clarify whether this relationship is mediated via iron metabolism. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4510 10.1111/cen.12529 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1021326 Blackwell Publishing Ltd fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Yeap, B. Divitini, M. Gunton, J. Olynyk, John Beilby, J. McQuillan, B. Hung, J. Knuiman, M. Higher ferritin levels, but not serum iron or transferrin saturation, are associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult men and women free of genetic haemochromatosis |
| title | Higher ferritin levels, but not serum iron or transferrin saturation, are associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult men and women free of genetic haemochromatosis |
| title_full | Higher ferritin levels, but not serum iron or transferrin saturation, are associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult men and women free of genetic haemochromatosis |
| title_fullStr | Higher ferritin levels, but not serum iron or transferrin saturation, are associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult men and women free of genetic haemochromatosis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Higher ferritin levels, but not serum iron or transferrin saturation, are associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult men and women free of genetic haemochromatosis |
| title_short | Higher ferritin levels, but not serum iron or transferrin saturation, are associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult men and women free of genetic haemochromatosis |
| title_sort | higher ferritin levels, but not serum iron or transferrin saturation, are associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult men and women free of genetic haemochromatosis |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1021326 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4510 |