ESPE Abstracts

Ferritin is a widely used iron storage indicator. At the same time, it is also viewed as an indicator of inflammation. Chronic low-grade inflammation in obese individual, especially in the one with metabolic disorders, related to comorbidities and poor prognosis. Both hyperglycemia and iron overload can induce inflammation and result in vascular endothelial dysfunction. To study the role of ferritin in obese children and its impact on artery and liver, the present study investigated 196 obese children for the correlations of ferritin level and intima-media thickness (IMT), liver function and fibrosis index, as well as hemoglobin, blood pressure, blood lipids, blood glucose in OGTT test, and inflammation indicators.

IMT was detected by high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography of the right and left carotid arteries. Serum markers of hepatic fibrosis: HA, CIV, PcIII and LN were measured using the ELISA kits. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 16.0. Indicators were log transformed or reciprocal transformed to get a normalized contribution and then were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient.

Obese children have significantly higher ferritin levels compared to control. Ferritin level in obese children correlated to waist/height ratio but not BMI. After controlled for waist/height ratio, ferritin level also correlated to hemoglobin, blood pressure, LDL, and glucose levels during the OGTT. Ferritin level does not correlated with other indicator of acute inflammation, including white blood cell counts, neutrophil percentile and platelet counts. However, it correlated to bile acids, an indicator for hepatic inflammation, as well as liver fibrosis markers type IV collagen (CIV) and procollagen type III (PcIII). For IMT, it correlated to BMI but not ferritin.

In obese children we studied, ferritin level is an indicator for iron storage. At the same time, it related to central obesity and also chronic liver inflammation, as well as metabolic syndrome components, including hypertension, high LDL and impaired glucose tolerance. However, ferritin level may not be an indicator for artery change and systemic inflammation.