Evaluation of the relationship between obesity and serum ferritin levels admitted in those applying for Medical check-up to ESOGU Faculty of Medicine Family medicine polyclinic

Obesity is a very common health problem in our country and in the world. Obese and overweight individuals have an increased risk of developing many diseases, including iron deficiency. Serum ferritin is the most powerful test for iron deficiency and if there is a concomitant chronic disease, the diagnostic cut-off value may vary. Due to the investigation of iron deficiency, serum ferritin values are frequently checked in the applications of obese and overweight individuals to health institutions. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the relationship between body mass indexes (BMI) and serum ferritin values of healthy individuals who applied to Eskişehir Osmangazi University Family Medicine Outpatient Clinic due to medical check-up and did not have signs of active inflammation. A total of 342 individuals, 138 (40.4%) women and 204 (59.6%) men, who were excluded from exclusion criteria such as high acute phase proteins, were included in the study. A significant (p=0.018) positive correlation was found between BMI and serum ferritin values of all individuals. When grouped according to genders, there was a statistically significant relationship between BMI and ferritin values in women (p=0.015) but no significant relationship was found in men (p=0.155). The positive correlation between high body mass index and serum ferritin levels may indicate the inability of ferritin to detect storage iron in obese individuals.