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AHA Scientific Sessions 2026 Abstract

Lower blood iron linked to one form of heart failure

An observational analysis followed 4,177 Black adults for a median 12 years; the association held in people with and without anemia.

Paper by Daisuke Kamimura, Wondwosen Yimer, Robert John Mentz, +4 more authorsMichael A. Hall · Yokohama City University Medical Center · University of Mississippi Medical Center
Heart cross-sections show a thick wall beside blood cells with sparse iron specks and a smaller, thinner wall beside cells with denser specks.

Our read

Populations
Studied:
Cohort study of 4,177 Black adults without prior heart failure, median 12 years
What changed:
Lower blood iron was linked to higher risk of hospitalization for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, regardless of anemia
The catch:
The longitudinal analysis excluded participants with incomplete data
In the record:
The 24th paper on serum iron with results in people; 69 on record in all.
Why it’s aging research:
It bears on staying healthy in midlife and later life.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper
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Among 4,786 Black adults without prior heart failure in the Jackson Heart Study, the average age was 55 and 63% were women. This observational cohort analysis followed 4,177 participants with complete data for a median of 12 years.

Lower blood iron was associated with hospitalization for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, in which the heart pumps out a normal share of its blood with each beat. The link held regardless of anemia, low levels of the oxygen-carrying protein in blood. Lower transferrin saturation, a measure of how much of the blood’s iron-carrying protein was loaded with iron, was linked to this outcome only in participants without anemia. Neither measure was linked to overall heart failure hospitalization or hospitalization for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, in which the heart pumps out a smaller share of its blood.

Why it matters

The authors suggested that iron measures could help flag risk of this age-related heart condition, particularly in people without anemia.

Caveats

Health differences not accounted for could have influenced both iron levels and heart failure risk. All participants were Black adults, and the findings came from a conference abstract.

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