Ferritin is a potential marker of cardiometabolic risk in adolescents and young adults with sleep-disordered breathing

To explore markers that reflect sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) severity and investigate their associations with cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescents and young adults. Participants were recruited from our SDB epidemiological cohort. They underwent overnight polysomnography and ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring. Complete blood count, ferritin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), fasting blood glucose, and lipid profile were measured. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the association between red cell indices (RCIs), ferritin, and obstructive apnea-hypopnea index (OAHI). Subgroup analyses on participants with SDB were performed for the association of RCIs and ferritin with lipid profile, hs-CRP, and BP. There were 88 participants with SDB and 155 healthy controls aged 16-25 years. Hemoglobin (Hb;