Annals of epidemiology
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Annals of epidemiology · Oct 2000
Serum ferritin and death from all causes and cardiovascular disease: the NHANES II Mortality Study. National Health and Nutrition Examination Study.
The purpose of this study was to assess the association between serum ferritin and death from all causes, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), CHD and myocardial infarction (MI). Positive body iron stores have been proposed as a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). While most epidemiologic studies using serum ferritin and other measures of body iron stores have not found an association between iron and heart disease risk, the hypothesis remains controversial. As a result, we examined the relationship of serum ferritin, the principle blood measure of body iron stores, to risk of death in a cohort with a standardized exam and long follow-up. ⋯ Overall, the results do not support the hypothesis that positive body iron stores, as measured by serum ferritin, are associated with an increased risk of CVD, CHD or MI death or between serum ferritin and all causes mortality. Most of the research to date with serum ferritin has been conducted in European men or in European American men. Our results are consistent with the primarily negative results for that race/sex group. More research is needed in women and minority groups, including an explanation of why such an association would exist in these groups but not in white men before an association can be established in them.