Suarez-Ortegon MF, et al. - In order to assess the links between ferritin levels, metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its individual components, and potential role of confounding, researchers performed meta-analysis of relevant cross-sectional and longitudinal studies and only cross-sectional studies. They also conducted meta-regressions to identify sources of heterogeneity in the associations of ferritin with MetS and its individual components. They obtained data from 27 studies (5 prospective), which were systematically reviewed and 22 studies were meta-analysed. They found that high triglycerides and glucose were the components that were more strongly related to ferritin. The ferritin-MetS association appeared to be impacted by hepatic injury and body mass index. Findings also showed a threshold impact of high ferritin concentration on the ferritin-high triglycerides association.