Iron homeostasis and H63D mutations in alcoholics with and without liver disease

Table 1 Clinical and laboratory characteristics of LDA and NLDA

	LDA (n = 78)	NLDA (n = 75)	P value
Age (yr)	52.3 ± 10.1	48.5 ± 10.7	0.03
Number of men (%)	66 (85)	62 (83)	NS
Alcohol consumption (g/d)	217 ± 195	327 ± 311	0.004
Presence of ascitis (%)	38 (52.1)	-	-
Presence of encephalopathy (%)	17 (34.7)	-	-
Alanine aminotransferase (r.v. 0-37 IU/L)	53 ± 60	17 ± 6	< 0.05
Aspartate aminotransferase (r.v. 0-41 IU/L)	81 ± 128	15 ± 5	< 0.05
Alkaline phosphatase (r.v. 40-129 IU/L)	143 ± 75	91 ± 21	< 0.05
γ-Glutamil transpeptidase (r.v. 8-61 IU/L)	225 ± 239	47 ± 48	< 0.05
Albumin (g/L)	36 ± 8	43 ± 3	< 0.05
Bilirubin (mg/dL)	4.0 ± 7.2	0.7 ± 0.9	< 0.05
Prothrombin time (seconds prolonged from control)	3.2 ± 2.7	0.5 ± 1.2	< 0.05
Cholesterol (mg/dL)	160.0 ± 84	209.1 ± 41.7	< 0.05
Triglycerides (mg/dL)	125.6 ± 111.3	162.8 ± 121.0	NS
Glucose (mg/dL)	119.9 ± 40.5	97 ± 13.6	NS
Iron (r.v. 65-175 &mgr;g/dL)	115 ± 64	99.4 ± 39	NS
TIBC (r.v. 250-425 &mgr;g/dL)	241 ± 88	279 ± 40	0.001
Transferrin saturation (%)	51 ± 27	36 ± 13	< 0.001
Ferritin (r.v. 23-236 ng/mL)	559 ± 607	159 ± 122	< 0.001

r.v.: Reference value; TIBC: Total iron binding capacity.

Table 2 Comparison of HFE genotypes, with C282Y or H63D allelic frequencies in LDA vs NLDA subjects and a control population n (%)

	LDA (n = 78)	NLDA (n = 75)	Blood donors[34] (n = 133)
wt/wt	39 (50)	52 (68)	92 (69)
wt/H63D	31 (39.7)	19 (25.3)	27 (20)
wt/C282Y	3 (3.8)	2 (3.7)	7 (5)
H63D/H63D	3 (3.8)	2 (3.7)	6 (4)
C82Y/H63D	2 (2.5)	1 (1.3)	1 (1)
C282Y allelic frequency	0.032	0.02	0.03
H63D allelic frequency1	0.25	0.16	0.15
Any mutation1	39 (50)	24 (32)	41 (31)

wt: Wild type;

¹P = 0.02; There were no other statistically significant differences between the various groups.

Table 3 Serum iron indices according to HFE status

	At least one HFE mutation (n = 63)	No HFE mutation (n = 90)	P value
Iron (&mgr;g/dL) (r.v. 65-175)	118 ± 52	100 ± 55	NS
TIBC (&mgr;g/dL) (r.v. 250-425)	262 ± 83	259 ± 63	NS
Transferrin saturation (%)	49 ± 24	39 ± 22	0.02
Ferritin (ng/mL) (r.v. 23-236)	499 ± 600	258 ± 339	< 0.001

r.v.: Reference value; TIBC: Total iron binding capacity.