Change of Hepcidin in Patients with Iron Overload at the Tibet Plateau

OBJECTIVE To explore the possible etiological factors of iron overload through detecting plasma hepcidin level of adult males at Tibet plateau. METHODS 81 Tibetan male adult patients hospitalized in our department during January 2017 - December 2018 were selected, and divided into iron overload group and non-iron overload group. The difference in serum ferritin, serum iron, total iron binding capacity, hemoglobin, HBSAg, ALT, AST, albumin, creatinine and hepcidin of patients in each group were tested. To analyze the differences between groups. The regression analysis was applied to analyze the relationship between laboratory index and hepcidin. RESULTS The plasma hepcidin of iron overload group was significantly higher than that of the non-iron overload group [93.69 (65.57-133.92) ng/ml vs 63.93 (40.01-90.65) ng/ml] (P=0.005). And there was a positive correlation between plasma hepcidin and ferritin (β=0.03 ng/ml，95%CI 0.01-0.05) (P<0.01) and BMI (β=5.71 ng/ml，95%CI 0.54-10.88) (P<0.05）. CONCLUSION Iron overload at Tibet plateau can not be attributed to hepcidin deficiency in Tibetan adult male patients. Iron metabolism disorders in Tibetan population may be associated with metabolic syndrome.