High Levels of Serum Ferritin in Elderly Patients with Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus.

We studied concentrations of serum ferritin, glycosylated ferritin, and non-glycosylated ferritin in elderly patients with diabetes. The subjects were 111 people who were at least 60 years old: 54 healthy controls, 14 diabetic patients without retinopathy, and 43 diabetic patients with retinopathy. The mean levels of ferritin, glycosylated ferritin, and non-glycosylated ferritin in serum were significantly higher in the patients with retinopathy than in healthy controls. The mean percent glycosylated ferritin did not differ between patients with retinopathy and healthy controls. The mean levels of serum ferritin, glycosylated ferritin, and non-glycosylated ferritin, and the percent glycosylated ferritin did not differ significantly between patients without retinopathy and health controls. None of these values differed between subjects with macroangiopathy and those without macroangiopathy, in both groups of patients. In patients with diabetes, none of the values measured was significantly related to fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c, or the duration of diabetes. These results suggest that diabetic microangiopathy is associated with abnormally high levels of ferritin in serum.