iron and cardiovascular disease

Subject: iron and cardiovascular disease
From: [email hidden] (doe)
Date: 1/17/2004 10:39 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id: <[email hidden]>

Stroke. 2004 Jan 15 [Epub ahead of print] Links

Association Between High Serum Ferritin Levels and Carotid Atherosclerosis in the Study of Health in
Pomerania (SHIP).

Wolff B, Volzke H, Ludemann J, Robinson D, Vogelgesang D, Staudt A, Kessler C, Dahm JB, John
U, Felix SB.

Klinik fur Innere Medizin B, Institut fur Epidemiologie und Sozialmedizin, Institut fur Klinische
Chemie, and Klinik fur Neurologie, Universitat Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Several studies have provided evidence for a relationship between body iron
load and cardiovascular disease. We analyzed the association of serum ferritin levels with carotid
atherosclerosis. METHODS: We assessed intima-media thickness and plaque prevalence in the carotid
arteries by high-resolution ultrasound among 2443 participants (1200 women; age, 45 to 79 years) in
the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP), a population-based study in northeast Germany. RESULTS: In
multivariate analysis, serum ferritin levels were not independently associated with carotid intima-
media thickness among women or men. In contrast, the relationship between serum ferritin levels and
carotid plaque prevalence was significant among men (odds ratio per 1-SD increase of serum ferritin
levels, 1.33; 95% confidence interval, 1.08 to 1.44) yet not among women (odds ratio, 1.29; 95%
confidence interval, 0.98 to 1.75). However, both men and women showed a dose-response relation
between serum ferritin levels and carotid atherosclerosis in which higher serum ferritin levels were
associated with greater odds ratios for carotid plaque prevalence. Additionally, there was an
interaction of serum ferritin levels with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (P=0.039) among
men in which the association of serum ferritin levels with carotid plaque prevalence became stronger
with increasing LDL cholesterol levels. CONCLUSIONS: Our study identified a relationship between
serum ferritin levels and carotid atherosclerosis that was potentiated by LDL cholesterol. This
relationship adds support to the hypothesis of a link between iron and cardiovascular disease.

PMID: 14726541 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

I understand it's wise for post-menapausal women to give blood and this study was cited.