Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Feb;96(8):e6179.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000006179.

Association of serum ferritin with insulin resistance, abdominal obesity, and metabolic syndrome in Korean adolescent and adults: The Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2008 to 2011

Young Suk Shim  1 , Min Jae Kang, Yeon Jeong Oh, Joon Woo Baek, Seung Yang, Il Tae Hwang
Affiliations

Association of serum ferritin with insulin resistance, abdominal obesity, and metabolic syndrome in Korean adolescent and adults: The Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2008 to 2011

Young Suk Shim et al. Medicine (Baltimore). 2017 Feb.

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the associations of serum ferritin with insulin resistance indices, body fat mass/percentage, and all the components of metabolic syndrome (MetS), as well as the risk for MetS according to serum ferritin levels in Korean adolescents and adults.A total of 15,963 Korean males and females aged 16 to 80 years were analyzed using data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005 to 2011.The median serum ferritin concentration was 98.82 ng/mL for males and 38.60 ng/mL for females (P < 0.001). Increased risks of greater waist circumference and elevated glucose levels, elevated triglyceride levels, and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were noted across the serum ferritin quartiles after adjustment for confounders in both genders (P ≤ 0.012 for trend). Insulin resistance indices and abdominal obesity (trunk fat mass/percent) increased across the ferritin concentration quartiles after adjustment for confounders in males and females (P ≤ 0.011 for trend), and the risk of MetS increased across the ferritin quartiles in males (P < 0.001 for trend) and females (P = 0.001 for trend). The highest serum ferritin quartile exhibited a 1.62-fold increased risk of MetS (95% CI, 1.28-2.12) in males and a 1.36-fold increased risk of MetS (95% CI, 1.09-1.69) in females compared with the lowest quartile after adjustment for confounders.Our results suggest that ferritin is associated with insulin resistance and abdominal obesity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose.

References

    1. Mozumdar A, Liguori G. Persistent increase of prevalence of metabolic syndrome among U.S. adults: NHANES III to NHANES 1999-2006. Diabetes Care 2011;34:216–9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yang JJ, Yoon HS, Lee SA, et al. Metabolic syndrome and sex-specific socio-economic disparities in childhood and adulthood: the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Diabet Med 2014;31:1399–409. - PubMed
    1. Beltran-Sanchez H, Harhay MO, Harhay MM, et al. Prevalence and trends of metabolic syndrome in the adult U.S. population, 1999–2010. J Am Coll Cardiol 2013;62:697–703. - PMC - PubMed
    1. International Diabetes Federation. The IDF consensus worldwide definition of the metabolic syndrome, http://www.idf.org/webdata/docs/IDF_Meta_def_final.pdf; 2006. [Accessed April 10, 2016].
    1. International Diabetes Federation. The IDF consensus definition of the metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents, http://www.idf.org/webdata/docs/Mets_definition_children.pdf; 2007. [Accessed April 10, 2016]