Liver iron concentration in dysmetabolic hyperferritinemia: Results from a prospective cohort of 276 patients

Abstract

Introduction and objectives: We aimed to study the liver iron concentration in patients referred for hyperferritinemia to six hospitals in the Basque Country and to determine if there were differences between patients with or without metabolic syndrome. Patients and methods: Metabolic syndrome was defined by accepted criteria. Liver iron concentration was determined by magnetic resonance imaging. Results: We obtained the data needed to diagnose metabolic syndrome in 276 patients; a total of 135 patients (49%), 115/240 men (48%), and 20/36 women (55.6%) presented metabolic syndrome. In all 276 patients, an MRI for the determination of liver iron concentration (mean ± SD) was performed. The mean liver iron concentration was 30.83 ± 19.38 for women with metabolic syndrome, 38.84 ± 25.50 for men with metabolic syndrome, and 37.66 ± 24.79 (CI 95%; 33.44–41.88) for the whole metabolic syndrome group. In 141 patients (51%), metabolic syndrome was not diagnosed: 125/240 were men (52%) and 16/36 were women (44.4%). The mean liver iron concentration was 34.88 ± 16.18 for women without metabolic syndrome, 44.48 ± 38.16 for men without metabolic syndrome, and 43.39 ± 36.43 (CI 95%, 37.32–49.46) for the whole non-metabolic syndrome group. Comparison of the mean liver iron concentration from both groups (metabolic syndrome vs non-metabolic syndrome) revealed no significant differences (p = 0.12). Conclusions: Patients with hyperferritinemia and metabolic syndrome presented a mildly increased mean liver iron concentration that was not significantly different to that of patients with hyperferritinemia and non-metabolic syndrome.

Keywords

• Ferritin
• Metabolic syndrome
• Iron overload
• Liver
• MRI