QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sun, Q. Articles by Hu, F. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sun, Q. Articles by Hu, F. B.

---

Nutritional Epidemiology

Excessive Body Iron Stores Are Not Associated with Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Women^1,2

³ Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115; ⁴ Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115; ⁵ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115; ⁶ Unilever Corporate Research, Colworth Park, Sharnbrook, UK MK44 1LQ; ⁷ Channing Laboratory, Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115; and ⁸ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115

The positive association between body iron stores and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) initially observed among a Finnish male population has not been corroborated by studies conducted in other populations. The soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR):ferritin ratio has been suggested to be a better index than ferritin to measure body iron stores. Because sTfR is sensitive to iron deficiency, this ratio can distinguish individuals with similar ferritin levels with respect to their iron status. To evaluate this novel index in relation to CHD risk, we prospectively identified and confirmed 242 incident CHD cases and randomly selected 483 controls matched for age, smoking, and fasting status among women that provided blood samples in the Nurses' Health Study during 9 y of follow-up. In both crude and multivariate analyses, neither the sTfR:ferritin ratio nor ferritin was significantly associated with an elevated risk of CHD. After multivariate adjustment for established and potential CHD risk factors, compared with women in the lowest quartile of the sTfR:ferritin ratio, women in the 2nd to 4th quartiles had relative risks (RR) (95% CI) of 1.39 (0.82, 2.36), 1.12 (0.66, 1.91), and 1.13 (0.65, 1.97; P-trend = 0.61), respectively. The multivariate RR (95% CI) for ferritin were 1.05 (0.62, 1.77), 1.19 (0.69, 2.03), and 1.05 (0.60, 1.85; P-trend = 0.90) across quartiles. Our data do not support the hypothesis that excessive body iron stores are associated with risk of CHD.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: qisun{at}hsph.harvard.edu.

Manuscript received 7 August 2008. Initial review completed 5 September 2008. Revision accepted 6 October 2008.