Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become a challenge in public health, as the prevalence of obesity and overweight has been increasing. It has been observed that serum ferritin (SF) levels are commonly elevated in NAFLD patients.
Purpose: To assess the relationship between SF levels and NAFLD, exploring the role of SF as a non-invasive marker of NAFLD.
Methods: Clinical, anthropometric, laboratory, and histological data of patients with obesity who underwent bariatric surgery in a reference center in Brazil were retrospectively evaluated. Data were collected in the preoperative period up to the first year postoperatively.
Results: A total of 431 patients were analyzed. The prevalence of hyperferritinemia was 18% in the preoperative period and 14% 1 year after the surgery. After multiple regression analysis, elevated SF was not an independent predictor of steatosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), or liver fibrosis.
Conclusions: Increased SF levels are common in patients with NAFLD; however, SF was not considered an independent predictor of steatosis, NASH, or fibrosis.
Keywords: Hepatic fibrosis; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; Obesity; Serum ferritin.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.