IRON-DEFICIENCY AND IRON OVERLOAD IN SWEDISH MALE-ADOLESCENTS

Objectives. The present study was undertaken to confirm or reject rece nt findings indicating a high prevalence of iron deficiency in Swedish male adolescents; a second aim was to study the prevalence of genetic iron overload. Design. The diagnostic criteria were: anaemia: Hb < 13 0 g L(-1) (a); iron deficiency: serum ferritin (SF) < 12 mu g L(-1) transferrin saturation (TS) < 16% (b); iron deficiency anaemia a + b. Iron overload: SF (90th percentile) + TS (90th percentile) in repeat t ests. Setting. Central Sweden. Subjects. A total 3975 men aged 18 year s studied on enrollment into military service. Results. Serum ferritin averaged 36.8 mu g L(-1). Anaemia was present in 0.5%, iron deficienc y anaemia in 0.17% and iron deficiency in 0.4%. If iron deficiency is defined as SF < 16 mu g L(-1), as was recently suggested, the prevalen ce would be 2.8%, Such a cut-off value would include 73% normal people (false positives). Iron overload had the same prevalence as iron defi ciency, 0.4%. Conclusions. Iron stores, as measured by serum ferritin, are small in young men studied at the end of their growth spurt. Howe ver, iron deficiency is rare. Therefore, the present study has not bee n able to confirm the high prevalence of iron deficiency recently repo rted. A prevalence of genetic haemochromatosis of 0.4%, confirms earli er findings and would mean that 12.6% of the population are heterozygo tic carriers of the iron-loading genes. These findings give no support for a proposed, more effective iron-enrichment of food. It is not nee ded and can be harmful.