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The use of cluster and principal component analysis in the estimation of iron status in term newborns
Artur Słomka1, Piotr Korbal, Natalia Piekuś
1Department of Pathophysiology, Collegium Medicum of Nicolaus Copernicus University, Skłodowskiej-Curie 9 Street, Bydgoszcz, Poland. slomkaartur@gmail.com
Insights
Iron homeostasis in newborns is linked to maternal factors and clinical features. Cluster and principal component analysis effectively revealed these complex relationships in cord blood iron parameters.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal Medicine
- Hematology
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Iron homeostasis is crucial for infant development.
- Understanding the interplay between maternal and neonatal iron status is vital.
- Clinical factors can influence neonatal iron metabolism.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate nine iron status parameters in newborn cord blood.
- To correlate these iron parameters with maternal hematological factors.
- To explore relationships between iron metabolism and 12 clinical attributes using advanced statistical methods.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of nine iron status markers (hepcidin, ferritin, transferrin receptor, etc.) in 57 term newborns' cord blood.
- Determination of maternal complete blood count.
- Application of cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) to assess relationships between 24 parameters and clinical features.
Main Results:
- Hepcidin showed a strong positive correlation with total iron concentration, but not with its precursor.
- Cluster analysis identified three distinct clusters among the 24 parameters.
- Specific clinical features, including APGAR score, maternal age, and parity, were associated with hepcidin and prohepcidin levels.
Conclusions:
- Cluster analysis and principal component analysis are effective tools for analyzing complex relationships between cord blood iron metabolism and clinical data.
- The study highlights specific clinical factors associated with neonatal iron status.
- These findings contribute to a better understanding of iron homeostasis in newborns.
Objective:
To assess the relationship between parameters of iron homeostasis in infants and clinical features characterizing newborns and their mothers.
Methods:
The goal of the present work was to determine nine iron status parameters, i.e. hepcidin, prohepcidin, soluble transferrin receptor, ferritin, total iron binding capacity, unsaturated iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation, erythropoietin and total iron concentration, in the cord blood of 57 term newborns as well as to determine the complete blood count in their mothers. Moreover, an appraisal of the relationships between all of the iron parameters, the mothers' hematological factors and 12 clinical attributes was carried out using both cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA).
Results:
We found that hepcidin is not correlated with its precursor, but it is strongly positively correlated with the total iron concentration. The CA divided all of the 24 parameters into three clusters and showed that certain clinical features, e.g. the APGAR score, mother's age or parity are related to the hepcidin and prohepcidin concentration.
Conclusion:
We demonstrated that CA and PCA are efficacious methods for assessing the relationship between iron metabolism parameters in cord blood and large amounts of clinical characteristics.
