Cobalamin absorption and serum homocysteine and methylmalonic acid in elderly subjects with low serum cobalamin

Abstract: Hyperhomocysteinemia and B-vitamin deficiency are associated with recurrent abortion. Recent studies have not investigated functional markers of vitamin B12 deficiency, such as methylmalonic acid.: A total of 43 consecutive Syrian women with unexplained recurrent abortion and 32 pregnant controls were enrolled in the study. Serum folate, vitamin B12, methylmalonic acid and plasma homocysteine were determined.: Vitamin B12 was significantly decreased in patients with recurrent abortion compared to controls (mean concentrations 197 vs. 300 pg/mL, p=0.004). The lowest mean serum vitamin B12 (172 pg/mL) was observed in primary aborters. Homocysteine was elevated in aborters in comparison to controls (8.3 vs. 7.1 μmol/L, p=0.093). Folate and methylmalonic acid did not differ significantly between the study groups. A highly significant correlation between homocysteine and methylmalonic acid and vitamin B12 was observed only in patients but not in controls (p<0.001 and p=0.002, respectively). In the logistic regression model, only serum vitamin B12 emerged with a significant odds ratio.: The results confirm low serum vitamin B12 in recurrent abortion patients. However, methylmalonic acid did not support that functional vitamin B12 plays a role in this group. This unexpected result might be due to a decrease of the metabolically inert vitamin B12 fraction (holohaptocorrin) or confounding factors. Further studies are necessary to investigate the role of vitamin B12 deficiency in recurrent abortion.Clin Chem Lab Med 2008;46:1265–9.

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Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Children With Infantile Spasms: A Case-Control Study

Journal of Child Neurology ◽

10.1177/0883073818787062 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (12) ◽

pp. 767-771 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mahender K. Meena ◽

Suvasini Sharma ◽

Himani Bhasin ◽

Puneet Jain ◽

Seema Kapoor ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Standard Deviation ◽

Developmental Delay ◽

Methylmalonic Acid ◽

Case Reports ◽

Serum Vitamin ◽

Infantile Spasms ◽

Global Developmental Delay ◽

P Value ◽

Vitamin B ◽

Serum Homocysteine

There have been few case reports showing association of vitamin B12 deficiency with infantile spasms. We planned this study to see if there was an association of serum vitamin B12 deficiency in children with development of infantile spasms. Cases included children with infantile spasms of ages 6 months to 3 years. The controls were children in the same age group who had global developmental delay but no history of epileptic spasms. Mean serum vitamin B12, serum homocysteine, and urinary methylmalonic acid levels were measured in both groups and compared. Children with infantile spasms had lower mean serum vitamin B12 levels (354.1 pg/mL; standard deviation 234.1 pg/mL) as compared to children with global developmental delay without spasms (466.7 pg/mL; standard deviation 285.5 pg/mL) ( P value < .05). Mean serum homocysteine level (13.9 vs 7.8 μmol/L, P = .02) and mean urinary methylmalonic acid level (68.1 mmol/mol of creatinine vs 26.1 mmol/mol of creatinine, P = .03) were elevated in children with infantile spasms than in controls. Fourteen children (35.0%) with infantile spasms were vitamin B12 deficient compared with 3 (7.50%) controls ( P = .005). Thus, vitamin B12 deficiency may have an association with infantile spasms. More studies are needed before recommending routine measurement of serum B12 levels in children with infantile spasms.

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The Plasma Homocysteine Concentration Is Better Than That of Serum Methylmalonic Acid as a Marker for Sociopsychological Performance in a Psychogeriatric Population

Clinical Chemistry ◽

10.1093/clinchem/46.5.691 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 46 (5) ◽

pp. 691-696 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Karin Nilsson ◽

Lars Gustafson ◽

Björn Hultberg

Keyword(s):

Biochemical Markers ◽

Methylmalonic Acid ◽

Psychiatric Symptoms ◽

Folate Deficiency ◽

Plasma Homocysteine ◽

Stepwise Multiple Regression ◽

Elderly Subjects ◽

Homocysteine Concentration ◽

Plasma Thcy ◽

Severity Of Dementia

Abstract Background: Cobalamin/folate deficiency in elderly subjects may lead to psychiatric symptoms, but more often it increases the severity of various organic and nonorganic mental diseases. A major clinical problem, however, is the uncertainty and controversy concerning biochemical markers of cobalamin/folate deficiency to be used in the diagnostic evaluation of suspected cobalamin/folate deficiency. Methods: We measured plasma homocysteine (tHcy), blood folate, serum methylmalonic acid, and serum cobalamin in 80 psychogeriatric patients (age, 77.3 ± 8.6 years) and 50 controls (age, 76.1 ± 8.0 years). We assessed associations of these tests with measures of cognitive and behavior performance by use of regression analyses. Results: Plasma tHcy was increased in 45% of the psychogeriatric population (mean, 20.5 ± 9.2 μmol/L vs 15.3 ± 4.7 μmol/L for controls; P <0.01). Plasma tHcy correlated with severity of dementia (r = 0.36; P <0.01), the Katz ADL index (r = 0.29; P <0.05), the Berger scale (r = 0.29; P <0.05), and the score of symptoms (r = 0.39; P <0.001) in the psychogeriatric population. Similarly, blood folate was significantly correlated with these measures, but the concentrations of serum cobalamin and methylmalonic acid were not. In a stepwise multiple regression analysis including the biochemical markers, tHcy was the only significant predictor of the severity of dementia (r2 = 0.11; P <0.01) and the score of symptoms (r2 = 0.16; P <0.001). Conclusion: Plasma tHcy is the best marker of those measured to investigate suspected tissue deficiency of cobalamin/folate.

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