Objective: Elevated serum ferritin has been known to be associated with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS). However, there was no research to examine whether serum ferritin levels have been actually associated with the prospective development of MetS. Accordingly, we carried out a prospective study to evaluate the longitudinal effects of baseline serum ferritin levels on the development of MetS.
Research design and methods: A MetS-free cohort of 18,022 healthy Korean men, who had participated in a medical health checkup program in 2005, was followed until 2010. MetS was defined according to the joint interim statement of the International Diabetes Federation Task Force on Epidemiology and Prevention. Cox proportional hazards models were performed.
Results: During 45,919.3 person-years of follow-up, 2,127 incident cases of MetS developed between 2006 and 2010. After adjusting for multiple covariates, the hazard ratios (95% CI) for incident MetS comparing the second quintile to the fifth quintile of serum ferritin levels versus the first quintile were 1.19 (0.98-1.45), 1.17 (0.96-1.43), 1.36 (1.12-1.65), and 1.66 (1.38-2.01), respectively (P for trend <0.001). These associations were apparent in the clinically relevant subgroup analyses.
Conclusions: Elevated serum ferritin levels were independently associated with future development of MetS during the 5-year follow-up period.