Biological variation of inflammatory and iron metabolism markers in high-endurance recreational athletes: are these markers useful for athlete monitoring?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Biological variation of inflammatory and iron metabolism markers in high-endurance recreational athletes

T2 - are these markers useful for athlete monitoring?

AU - Diaz-Garzon, Jorge

AU - Itkonen, Outi

AU - Aarsand, Aasne K.

AU - Sandberg, Sverre

AU - Coskun, Abdurrahman

AU - Carobene, Anna

AU - Jonker, Niels

AU - Bartlett, William A.

AU - Buño, Antonio

AU - Fernandez-Calle, Pilar

N1 - Copyright: © 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.

PY - 2024/4/25

Y1 - 2024/4/25

N2 - Objectives: To deliver biological variation (BV) data for serum hepcidin, soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), erythropoietin (EPO) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in a population of well-characterized high-endurance athletes, and to evaluate the potential influence of exercise and health-related factors on the BV.Methods: Thirty triathletes (15 females) were sampled monthly (11 months). All samples were analyzed in duplicate and BV estimates were delivered by Bayesian and ANOVA methods. A linear mixed model was applied to study the effect of factors related to exercise, health, and sampling intervals on the BV estimates.Results: Within-subject BV estimates (CVI) were for hepcidin 51.9 % (95 % credibility interval 46.9-58.1), sTfR 10.3 % (8.8-12) and EPO 27.3 % (24.8-30.3). The mean concentrations were significantly different between sex, but CVI estimates were similar and not influenced by exercise, health-related factors, or sampling intervals. The data were homogeneously distributed for EPO but not for hepcidin or sTfR. IL-6 results were mostly below the limit of detection. Factors related to exercise, health, and sampling intervals did not influence the BV estimates.Conclusions: This study provides, for the first time, BV data for EPO, derived from a cohort of well-characterized endurance athletes and indicates that EPO is a good candidate for athlete follow-up. The application of the Bayesian method to deliver BV data illustrates that for hepcidin and sTfR, BV data are heterogeneously distributed and using a mean BV estimate may not be appropriate when using BV data for laboratory and clinical applications.

AB - Objectives: To deliver biological variation (BV) data for serum hepcidin, soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), erythropoietin (EPO) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in a population of well-characterized high-endurance athletes, and to evaluate the potential influence of exercise and health-related factors on the BV.Methods: Thirty triathletes (15 females) were sampled monthly (11 months). All samples were analyzed in duplicate and BV estimates were delivered by Bayesian and ANOVA methods. A linear mixed model was applied to study the effect of factors related to exercise, health, and sampling intervals on the BV estimates.Results: Within-subject BV estimates (CVI) were for hepcidin 51.9 % (95 % credibility interval 46.9-58.1), sTfR 10.3 % (8.8-12) and EPO 27.3 % (24.8-30.3). The mean concentrations were significantly different between sex, but CVI estimates were similar and not influenced by exercise, health-related factors, or sampling intervals. The data were homogeneously distributed for EPO but not for hepcidin or sTfR. IL-6 results were mostly below the limit of detection. Factors related to exercise, health, and sampling intervals did not influence the BV estimates.Conclusions: This study provides, for the first time, BV data for EPO, derived from a cohort of well-characterized endurance athletes and indicates that EPO is a good candidate for athlete follow-up. The application of the Bayesian method to deliver BV data illustrates that for hepcidin and sTfR, BV data are heterogeneously distributed and using a mean BV estimate may not be appropriate when using BV data for laboratory and clinical applications.

KW - athletes

KW - biological variation

KW - erythropoietin

KW - hepcidin

KW - soluble transferrin receptor

U2 - 10.1515/cclm-2023-1071

DO - 10.1515/cclm-2023-1071

M3 - Article

C2 - 38062926

SN - 1434-6621

VL - 62

SP - 844

EP - 852

JO - Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine

JF - Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine

IS - 5

ER -