Iron Deficiency - Not Only a Premenopausal Topic After Bariatric Surgery?

Area of Science:

• Bariatric Surgery Outcomes
• Nutritional Deficiencies Post-Surgery
• Mineral Metabolism

Background:

• Post-gastric bypass surgery, specialized high-dose multivitamin supplementation is standard care.
• Assessing the adequacy of iron supplementation and potential for iron overload in different patient groups is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the sufficiency of prescribed iron supplementation in men and women after gastric bypass.
• To determine if standardized multivitamin supplementation for women could lead to iron overload in men.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective study of 283 patients up to 36 months post-bariatric surgery.
• Comparison of iron status (serum ferritin) between men, premenopausal women, and postmenopausal women.
• Inclusion of patients with follow-up visits between January 2015 and April 2018.

Main Results:

• 36 months post-surgery, iron deficiency affected 33.3% of men, 68.4% of premenopausal women, and 54.5% of postmenopausal women.
• Preoperative excess ferritin was 13.7% (premenopausal women), 3.0% (postmenopausal women), and 5.7% (men), declining post-surgery.
• Iron overload was rare, with the highest prevalence observed in premenopausal women.

Conclusions:

• Iron deficiency is highly prevalent after gastric bypass surgery, often not preventable by standard high-dose multivitamins.
• Sex and age-specific iron dosage regimens are necessary due to differing iron deficiency rates in men and women.
• Iron overload is uncommon, but premenopausal women showed the highest incidence.