Relationship between iron status markers and insulin resistance: an exploratory study in subjects with excess body weight

Controversy exists on the relationship between iron metabolism and cardiometabolic risk. The

Cross-sectional study with fifty participants presenting overweight or obesity and at least another metabolic syndrome factor. Determinations: anthropometry, body composition, blood pressure, lipids, glucose, insulin, leptin, areas under the curve (AUC) for glucose and insulin after an oral glucose tolerance test, hs-C reactive protein (hs-CRP), blood count, ferritin, transferrin, transferrin saturation (TSAT), soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR). Gender-adjusted linear correlations and two independent samples t tests were used.

Ferritin was positively correlated with insulin-AUC (r = 0.547, p = 0.008) and TSAT was negatively correlated with waist-hip ratio (r = - 0.385, p = 0.008), insulin (r = - 0.551, p < 0.001), and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR, r = - 0.586, p < 0.001). Subjects with TSAT ≤ 20% had higher insulin (p = 0.012) and HOMA-IR (p = 0.003) compared to those with TSAT > 20%. In