Ferritin in hypertensive and diabetic women before and after bariatric surgery

In addition to its important role as marker of iron stores, serum ferritin is a marker of systemic inflammation, and obesity has been associated with chronic inflammation. Objective: To verify, six months after surgery, the effect of bariatric surgery on the serum ferritin of women who were hypertensive, diabetic, or comorbidity free before surgery. Sample and methods: This retrospective study included 200 women aged 20 to 45 years, with a body mass index (BMI) equal to or greater than 35 kg/m(2), submitted to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). Seventy of these women were hypertensive, forty had type 2 diabetes (T2D), and ninety were comorbidity free (CF). They were assessed before and six months after surgery. Anthropometric, laboratory (serum ferritin and hemoglobin), and comorbidity-related data were collected from their medical records. Results: Before surgery, women with comorbidities were older, the hypertensives had higher BMI, and the diabetics had higher serum ferritin levels than the CF women. The study comorbidities had resolved in 68% of the hypertensive women and 86% of the diabetic women six months after RYGB. Also at this time, the serum ferritin of hypertensive women decreased from 110.1 +/- 86.3 to 88.7 +/- 80.5 ng/dL and of diabetic women, from 164.8 +/- 133.4 to 101.2 +/- 97.7 ng/dL (p<0.05); hemoglobin also decreased in hypertensive and CF women (p>0.05). Conclusion: High ferritin in premenopausal obese women was associated with the main obesity-related comorbidities, and these comorbidities determined the reduction of serum ferritin after bariatric surgery.