Evaluation of iron status in European adolescents through biochemical iron indicators: the HELENA Study Ferrari, M. Mistura, L. Patterson, E. Sjöström, Michael Díaz, L. E. Stehle, P. González Gross, Marcela Kersting, Mathilde Widhalm, Kurt Molnar, Dénes Gottrand, Frederic Henauw, Stefaan de Manios, Yannis Kafatos, A. Moreno, L. A. Leclercq, C. Anaemia Iron deficiency Adolescent Europe Background/Objectives: To assess the iron status among European adolescents through selected biochemical parameters in a cross-sectional study performed in 10 European cities. Subjects/Methods: Iron status was defined utilising biochemical indicators. Iron depletion was defined as low serum ferritin (SF<15 μg/l). Iron deficiency (ID) was defined as high-soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR>8.5 mg/l) plus iron depletion. Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) was defined as ID with haemoglobin (Hb) below the WHO cutoff for age and sex: 12.0 g/dl for girls and for boys aged 12.5–14.99 years and 13.0 g/dl for boys aged greater than or equal to15 years. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used as analytical method for SF, sTfR and C-reactive protein (CRP). Subjects with indication of inflammation (CRP >5 mg/l) were excluded from the analyses. A total of 940 adolescents aged 12.5–17.49 years (438 boys and 502 girls) were involved. Results: The percentage of iron depletion was 17.6%, significantly higher in girls (21.0%) compared with boys (13.8%). The overall percentage of ID and IDA was 4.7 and 1.3%, respectively, with no significant differences between boys and girls. A correlation was observed between log (SF) and Hb (r=0.36, P<0.01), and between log (sTfR) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin (r=−0.30, P<0.01). Iron body stores were estimated on the basis of log (sTfR/SF). A higher percentage of negative values of body iron was recorded in girls (16.5%) with respect to boys (8.3%), and body iron values tended to increase with age in boys, whereas the values remained stable in girls. Conclusions: To ensure adequate iron stores, specific attention should be given to girls at European level to ensure that their dietary intake of iron is adequate. 2013-10-29T10:14:03Z 2013-10-29T10:14:03Z 2011 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Ferrari, M.; et al. Evaluation of iron status in European adolescents through biochemical iron indicators: the HELENA Study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 65(3): 340-349 (2011). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/28879] 1476-5640 0954-3007 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/28879 10.1038/ejcn.2010.279 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Nature Publishing Group