Indicators of transferrin and ferritin in overweigh and obesity children

Abstract

Background. Today, obesity is seen as a chronic systemic inflammation of low activity. At present, the information about the biological and clinical significance of metal proteins in the inflammatory process is being accumulated. The purpose was to study transferrin and ferritin indices in overweight and obese children. Materials and methods. We have examined the children with overweight (OW, 60 persons), obesity (Os, 45 persons), normal body weight (NBW, 60 persons), body weight deficiency (BWD, 30 persons) aged 13–18 years. Examination included anamnesis, anthropometry (height, body weight, BMI, waist-to-thigh ratio (WTR)), content of glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR calculation, content of transferrin (TF) and ferritin (Fn). For statistical analysis of the results, statistic modules of Statistica v. 6.0, MedStat and on-line SISA calculator were used. Results. In the total sample of 325 patients, OW was observed in 75 (23.1 %), Os — in 45 (13.8 %) children, BWD — in 30 (9.2 %) persons, in the rest 175 (53.8 %) — NBW. Of the overweight children, the boys prevailed and accounted for 40 (53.3 %), and 38 (55.8%) obese boys. The highest content of transferrin was observed in children aged 16–18 years (3.90 ± 0.70 g/l, n = 100; p < 0.05). The highest content of TF was recorded in children with Os II grade — 3.98 ± 0.9 g/l (n = 16) versus 3.05 ± 0.61 g/l (n = 29) (p < 0.05) in children with Os I grade. A similar trend has been established with respect to the Fn blood plasma values in examined children. Thus, higher levels of ferritin were found in children with Os II degree — 178.9 ± 22.8 ng/ml (n = 16) versus 125.8 ± 0.7 ng/ml (n = 29) (p < 0.05) in children with Os I and in children aged 16–18 years old — 176.2 ± 12.8 ng/ml (n = 25) versus 149.9 ± 11.3 ng/ml (n = 20) (p < 0.01) in children of 13–15 years old. The probable difference in gender ratios of TF and Fn is not established. Conclusions. The evaluation of systemic markers as a method of early detection of obesity is an urgent and promising direction for optimizing the obesity prevention system.