The effect of aerobic exercise on serum ferritin levels in untrained middle-aged women

Background: Recent studies suggest that an elevated serum ferritin concentration is considered a dependent factor associated with increased risk cardiovascular disease. The aim of this research is finding of the effect of six months aerobic exercise on serum ferritin levels in untrained middle-aged women. Methods: Nineteen healthy female middle-aged were selected by convenience sampling method and were randomly divided into two experimental (n=11) and control (n=8) groups. The exercise protocol included aerobic exercise training lasted for 6 months and 3 sessions per week and every session lasted for 60 minutes and with intensity of 55-65 percent of maximum heart rate reserve (MHR). Blood samples were taken to measure serum ferritin before and after aerobic training period. A general linear- Repeated measure (GL-RM) was used to comparing of within, Interactive and between means groups. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: Weight, BMI, body far percent, WHR in exercise group towards the end of period of the training, but this changes was not signifi cantly. Results showed a variance between group WHR is signifi cant (P < 0.05). In addi tion, during the training, there was no significant change in serum Ferritin levels in both groups. Conclusion: Six months of aerobic exercise does not induce significant change in serum levels of Ferritin, while these levels reduced in middle-aged women. We believe that prolong exercise, due to reduce in serum ferritin. Although more research, as well as basic research and large-scale epidemiological studies, is required to totally assess the association between Ferritin concentrations and prolong exercise.