TY - JOUR
T1 - Serum ferritin is inversely correlated with testosterone in boys and young male adolescents
T2 - A cross-sectional study in Taiwan
AU - Chao, Kuo Ching
AU - Chang, Chun Chao
AU - Chiou, Hung Yi
AU - Chang, Jung Su
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Chao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - Objective The transition from childhood to teenaged years is associated with increased testosterone and a decreased iron status. It is not clear whether higher testosterone levels cause the decreased iron status, and to what extent, obesity-related inflammation influences the irontestosterone relationship. The aim of the present study was to examine relationships of testosterone, iron status, and anti-/proinflammatory cytokines in relation to nutritional status in boys and young adolescent Taiwanese males. Methods In total, 137 boys aged 7~13 yr were included. Parameters for obesity, the iron status, testosterone, and inflammatory markers were evaluated. Results Overweight and obese (ow/obese) boys had higher mean serum testosterone, interleukin (IL)-1β, and nitric oxide (NO) levels compared to their normal-weight counterparts (all p<0.05). Mean serum ferritin was slightly higher in ow/obese boys compared to normalweight boys, but this did not reach statistical significance. A multiple linear regression showed that serum ferritin (β =-0.7470, p = 0.003) was inversely correlated with testosterone, while serum IL-10 (β = 0.3475, p = 0.009) was positively associated with testosterone after adjusting for covariates. When normal-weight boys were separately assessed from ow/obesity boys, the association between testosterone and serum ferritin became stronger (β =-0.9628, p<0.0001), but the association between testosterone and IL-10 became nonsignificant (β = 0.1140, p = 0.4065) after adjusting for covariates. In ow/obese boys, only IL 10 was weakly associated with serum testosterone (β = 0.6444, p = 0.051) after adjusting for age. Conclusions Testosterone and serum ferritin are intrinsically interrelated but this relationship is weaker in ow/obese boys after adjusting for age.
AB - Objective The transition from childhood to teenaged years is associated with increased testosterone and a decreased iron status. It is not clear whether higher testosterone levels cause the decreased iron status, and to what extent, obesity-related inflammation influences the irontestosterone relationship. The aim of the present study was to examine relationships of testosterone, iron status, and anti-/proinflammatory cytokines in relation to nutritional status in boys and young adolescent Taiwanese males. Methods In total, 137 boys aged 7~13 yr were included. Parameters for obesity, the iron status, testosterone, and inflammatory markers were evaluated. Results Overweight and obese (ow/obese) boys had higher mean serum testosterone, interleukin (IL)-1β, and nitric oxide (NO) levels compared to their normal-weight counterparts (all p<0.05). Mean serum ferritin was slightly higher in ow/obese boys compared to normalweight boys, but this did not reach statistical significance. A multiple linear regression showed that serum ferritin (β =-0.7470, p = 0.003) was inversely correlated with testosterone, while serum IL-10 (β = 0.3475, p = 0.009) was positively associated with testosterone after adjusting for covariates. When normal-weight boys were separately assessed from ow/obesity boys, the association between testosterone and serum ferritin became stronger (β =-0.9628, p<0.0001), but the association between testosterone and IL-10 became nonsignificant (β = 0.1140, p = 0.4065) after adjusting for covariates. In ow/obese boys, only IL 10 was weakly associated with serum testosterone (β = 0.6444, p = 0.051) after adjusting for age. Conclusions Testosterone and serum ferritin are intrinsically interrelated but this relationship is weaker in ow/obese boys after adjusting for age.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0144238
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0144238
M3 - Article
C2 - 26646112
AN - SCOPUS:84955472197
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 10
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 12
M1 - e0144238
ER -