Ferritin is a potential marker of cardiometabolic risk in adolescents and young adults with sleep-disordered breathing.

OBJECTIVE

To explore markers that reflect sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) severity and investigate their associations with cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescents and young adults.

METHODS

Participants were recruited from our SDB epidemiological cohort. They underwent overnight polysomnography and ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring. Complete blood count, ferritin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), fasting blood glucose, and lipid profile were measured. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the association between red cell indices (RCIs), ferritin, and obstructive apnea-hypopnea index (OAHI). Subgroup analyses on participants with SDB were performed for the association of RCIs and ferritin with lipid profile, hs-CRP, and BP.

RESULTS

There were 88 participants with SDB and 155 healthy controls aged 16-25 years. Hemoglobin (Hb;  < .001), hematocrit (HCT;  < .001), and ferritin ( < .001) were elevated with increasing SDB severity and were independently associated with OAHI (β=1.06,  < .001; =40.2,  < .001; =4.89 × 10,  = .024, respectively). In participants with SDB, after adjusting for age, sex, and BMI, significant associations were found between ferritin with low-density lipoprotein (LDL; =0.936 × 10,  = .008) and triglyceride (TG; =1.08 × 10,  < .001), as well as between Hb (=1.40,  = .007), HCT (=51.5,  = .010) and mean arterial pressure (MAP). Ferritin (=0.091,  = .002), Hb (=0.975,  = .005), and HCT (=38.8,  = .004) were associated with hs-CRP independent of age, sex, BMI, plasma LDL, and MAP. OAHI was not associated with LDL and TG in the multivariable models.

CONCLUSIONS

Serum ferritin, but not OAHI, was associated with LDL and TG in participants with SDB, suggesting it is a potential marker of cardiometabolic risk in patients with SDB.