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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1410538
This article is part of the Research Topic Nutrition, Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Obstetrics and Gynecology View all 4 articles

Inverse Association between Serum Iron Levels and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis in U.S. Females of Reproductive Age: Analysis of the NHANES 2007-2012

Provisionally accepted
Liang Zhang Liang Zhang Yibing Li Yibing Li Liu Yang Liu Yang Zhixiong Luo Zhixiong Luo Zhaoyu Wu Zhaoyu Wu Jingbo Wang Jingbo Wang Siyuan Qin Siyuan Qin Fei Ren Fei Ren Tianyuan Hu Tianyuan Hu *
  • Department of Nuclear Medicine, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is a significant public health concern, particularly among females. While existing studies have explored the correlation between serum iron levels and HT, limited research has specifically focused on this association in reproductive-age females. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between serum iron and HT.Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012), we employed weighted multivariate logistic regression models, an XGBoost model, and smooth curve fitting. We assessed the correlation between serum iron and HT and examined linear and non-linear relationships with thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb).Among 2356 participants, each unit increase in serum iron was associated with a 43% reduced risk of HT (Odds Ratios (OR) 0.574; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.572, 0.576). Quartile analysis confirmed these effects. The XGBoost model identified serum iron as the most significant variable correlated with HT. Smooth curves revealed a linear association between log2-transformed serum iron and HT. Additionally, log2-transformed serum iron inversely correlated with TPOAb levels (β -15.47; 95% CI -25.01, -5.92), while a non-linear relationship was observed with TgAb.Our study reveals that in reproductive-age women, every unit increase in serum iron is associated with a 43% lower risk of HT, demonstrating an inverse relationship. Additionally, serum iron exhibits a negative correlation with TPOAb and a non-linear association with TgAb.

    Keywords: serum iron, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, female, Cross-sectional study, NHANES

    Received: 14 Jun 2024; Accepted: 18 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Li, Yang, Luo, Wu, Wang, Qin, Ren and Hu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tianyuan Hu, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China

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