Abstract

Iron deficiency is associated with a substantial burden of morbidity. However, supplementation of iron has been linked to increased rates of serious infection in randomised trials of children in sub-Saharan Africa. Randomised trials in other settings have been inconclusive and it is unknown if changes in levels of iron biomarkers are linked to sepsis in these other settings. We used genetic variants associated with levels of iron biomarkers as instrumental variables in a Mendelian randomisation (MR) analysis to test the hypothesis that increasing levels of iron biomarkers increase the risk of sepsis. In observational and MR analyses we found that increases in iron biomarkers increase the odds of sepsis. In stratified analyses, we show that this risk may be larger in those with iron deficiency and/or anaemia. Taken together, results here suggest a required caution in supplementation of iron and underline the role of iron homeostasis in severe infection.

Details

Title
An observational and Mendelian randomisation study on iron status and sepsis
Author
Hamilton, Fergus 1 ; Mitchell, Ruth 2 ; Ahmed, Haroon 3 ; Ghazal, Peter 4 ; Timpson, Nicholas J. 2 

 University of Bristol, Oakfield House, MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Bristol, UK (GRID:grid.5337.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7603); North Bristol NHS Trust, Infection Sciences, Bristol, UK (GRID:grid.418484.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 0380 7221) 
 University of Bristol, Oakfield House, MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Bristol, UK (GRID:grid.5337.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7603) 
 Cardiff University Medical School, Division of Population Medicine, Cardiff, UK (GRID:grid.5600.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 0807 5670) 
 Cardiff University, System Immunity Research Institute, Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff, UK (GRID:grid.5600.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 0807 5670) 
Pages
2867
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2777538660
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. corrected publication 2024. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.