The relationship between serum superoxide dismutase and thyroid function in obese patients after Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy

Abstract

To investigate the cross-sectional and longitudinal correlation between serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels and thyroid function with obesity before and after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). Patients with morbid obesity (n = 219, 112 males and 107 females) who underwent LSG were selected and they were subdivided into normal levels of SOD (NSOD, n = 112) and high levels of SOD (HSOD, n = 107) according to the median value of SOD levels (183 U/mL). SOD and thyroid hormones were measured and compared at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months after LSG. The HSOD group had lower body mass index (BMI), total thyroxine (TT4), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) than the NSOD group (p < 0.001, p = 0.031, p < 0.001, respectively). However, they had higher free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4) (p = 0.019 and p = 0.017, respectively). SOD was significantly negatively associated with TSH and positively associated with FT4. Of all the patients, 22.31% (NSOD: 66.67%; HSOD: 33.33%) had subclinical hypothyroidism (SH), and there were lower SOD levels in the SH group. Preoperative SOD was a protective factor for SH. After LSG, SOD and FT4 levels were increased at 12 months after LSG, however, TSH, FT3, total triiodothyronine (TT3) and TT4 levels decreased compared to the preoperative levels at 3, 6, and 12 months in the SH group. Postoperative changes in FT4 and TT4 levels correlated with changes in SOD levels. SOD, which is correlated with thyroid hormones, protects against SH in patients with obesity. The improvement in thyroid function with SH after LSG may be related to increased SOD levels.

Keywords:

• Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy
• subclinical hypothyroidism
• superoxide dismutase
• thyroid hormones

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All procedures performed in the studies involving human patients were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. ClinicalTrial.gov ID: ChiCTR-OCS-12002381. Informed consent was obtained from all patients that were included in the study.

Author contributions

Hui You and Xin Wen drafted the manuscript. Xingchun Wang, Cuiling Zhu, Manna Zhang, and Le Bu conducted literature research and collected epidemiological and clinical data. Haibing Chen revised the manuscript. Chunjun Sheng and Shen Qu conceived and supervised this study. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and materials

All data in this study can be obtained from the corresponding author upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant numbers 81700752, 81970677, and 82170861; Traditional Chinese Medicine Scientific Research Project of Shanghai Municipal Health Commission under Grant number 2020_JP013, and Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital Pandeng Fund under Grant numbers 2021SYPDRC059 and 2021SYPDRC050.