Background: Few data have been published on the associations of ferritin with trunk and leg fat depots. We aimed to investigate these associations in a Chinese population.
Methodology: Trunk fat mass and leg fat mass were determined in a cross-sectional sample of 1,150 Chinese (479 men and 671 women) aged 50-70 years by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan. Fasting plasma ferritin was measured.
Principal findings: Plasma ferritin was positively correlated with waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, total body fat and trunk fat mass, but inversely correlated with leg fat mass in men (r = 0.16, 0.26, 0.19, 0.22 and -0.12, respectively, all P<0.05) and women (r = 0.16, 0.16, 0.08, 0.17 and -0.12, respectively, all P<0.05). Multivariate regression analysis showed that ferritin levels increased with larger trunk fat mass (β = 0.33 ± 0.08 for men and β = 0.21 ± 0.05 for women, both P<0.001) while decreased with larger leg fat mass (β = -0.12 ± 0.09, P = 0.15 for men; and β = -0.14 ± 0.05, P = 0.005 for women). Moreover, plasma ferritin levels decreased with increasing tertile of leg fat mass among each tertile of trunk fat mass.
Conclusion: This is the first study to report the opposite associations of trunk and leg fat depots with plasma ferritin levels.