Background: Serum-ferritin levels may be associated with psychiatric symptoms among the elderly; however, this association has not been extensively studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between serumferritin levels and mental health issues in older Koreans.
Methods: This cross-sectional study included large-scale national data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010-2012. In total, 1,802 older Koreans (≥65 years old) were included. The assessed psychiatric symptoms included short sleep duration, stress, depressed mood, and suicidal ideation. Any association between serum-ferritin levels and mental health issues according to sex was examined using logistic regression analysis.
Results: The prevalence of short sleep duration, stress, depressed mood, and suicidal ideation was 50.9%, 21.7%, 18.2%, and 22.5%, respectively. In men, suicidal ideation decreased with increased serum-ferritin levels after multivariate adjustment for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors and comorbidities. The odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of suicidal ideation by quartiles of serum-ferritin level were 1 (reference), 1.132 (95% CI, 0.569-2.252), 0.453 (95% CI, 0.217-0.945), and 0.608 (95% CI, 0.295-1.253), respectively, (P for trend=0.039). In women, no trend was observed. However, compared to the lowest quartile, short sleep duration (<7 h) and stress perception were significantly decreased in the third quartile, with odds ratios of 0.601 (95% CI, 0.461-0.888), and 0.606 (95% CI, 0.386-0.952), respectively.
Conclusion: Moderate serum-ferritin levels were associated with decreased risk for suicide ideation in men, and were associated with decreased short sleep duration and stress perception in women.
Keywords: Aged; Ferritins; Mental Health; Republic of Korea.