After excluding individuals with raised CRP (>6 mg/L, n = 45), infection (diagnosed from white blood cell count, n = 40) and other confounding factors (n = 69), 11.4% of the remaining 460 participants were reported to have elevated iron stores (serum ferritin > 300 μg/L in men, and >200 μg/L in women). Here, CRP is linked to infection.