Assessment of iron status and its correlation with hepcidin in obese adults – A prospective case-control study

Abstract

Obesity, broadly refers to increased body fat, which has become an important public health problem. Its prevalence continues to increase worldwide. In the World Health Survey, the prevalence of physical inactivity in India was 9.3% in men and 15.2% in women. Adipose tissue being an endocrine organ secretes several cytokines such as Interleukin-6, TNF-α and adipokines such as adiponectin, hepcidin, resistin. This study is to compare ferritin to iron and hepcidin with normal and obese men. This case-control study was conducted at a multispecialty centre in Chennai, Tamil Nadu between 2013 and 2015, including 80 subjects of South Indian population. The biochemical parameters which were measured included the levels of hepcidin, ferritin, iron, Total Iron Binding Capacity and Hemoglobin. The results were statistically analyzed. Mann whitney U test performed to check for the statistical significance for differences in mean between the groups. The mean hepcidin values for the control group was 800.55 ± 503.50 and the study group was 1106.68 ± 826.25 and was found to be statistically significant with a p-value of 0.03. There was positive correlation of hepcidin with ferritin and Transferrin Saturation. Hepcidin is recognized as the key regulator of systemic iron homeostasis. The measurement of hepcidin in biological fluids is therefore a promising tool in the diagnosis and management of medical conditions in which iron metabolism is affected.