Hepcidin and iron metabolism in preterm infants

Abstract

<abstract><sec> <title>Background</title> <p>Iron deficiency (ID) and ID anemia are widespread in low-income countries, particularly among preterm infants. Hepcidin is a key regulator of iron metabolism, which offers the possibility of new solutions to diagnose ID in premature infants.</p> </sec><sec> <title>Objective</title> <p>To explore the relationship between iron metabolism and hepcidin in premature infants.</p> </sec><sec> <title>Materials and methods</title> <p>The study involved 81 preterm infants between 28⁺¹ and 36⁺⁶ who underwent iron status indicators and hepcidin testing at 6 months of corrected gestational age. The preterm infants were divided into two groups based on iron status indicators: ID and no ID.</p> </sec><sec> <title>Results</title> <p>Serum hepcidin was lower for premature infants with ID compared to those without ID (log₁₀hepcidin, 1.18 ± 0.44 vs 1.49 ± 0.37, <italic>p</italic> = 0.002). A single-variate linear regression model was used to explore the correlation between hepcidin and other indicators of iron metabolism. A strongly positive relationship was observed between hepcidin levels and ferritin levels (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) in the correlation analysis.</p> </sec><sec> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Hepcidin can be used as an efficient indicator of iron storage and a promising indicator for the early diagnosis of ID in premature infants.</p> </sec></abstract>