Urinary labile iron in obese and non-obese industrial workers in Port Harcourt

Abstract

Background: Obesity precedes the development of many of the cardiovascular risk factors, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and chronic kidney disease. Labile iron, which has been associated with these chronic diseases, may be one of the links between obesity and these disorders.
Aim:  To determine the level of  urinary labile iron  in obese and non-obese industrial workers in Port Harcourt without diabetes and kidney diseases.
Methods: Urinary labile iron was measured using standard methods in 100 randomly selected individuals without diabetes mellitus (50 were obese with body mass index ≥30 and 50 were non-obese with body mass index≤27). Participants were selected from the metabolic and out-patient clinic of an industrial hospital in Port Harcourt. All subjects were aged between 25 and 60 years.
Results: There was a significant difference in the mean urinary labile iron between the obese and the non-obese participants (60±5.5nmol/µmol Vs 21.4± 3.7 nmol/µmol) (P<0.05). The significant predictor of increased urinary labile iron was obesity (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Our study showed that obesity is associated with increased urinary labile iron. This may be a useful marker of oxidant stress.


Keywords: Labile iron, Obesity, Industrial workers, Port Harcourt