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Diminished vitamin B 12 levels in patients with severe sickle cell disease
Author(s) -
ALMOMEN A. K.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.625
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1365-2796
pISSN - 0954-6820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2796.1995.tb00884.x
Subject(s) - medicine , macrocytosis , gastroenterology , vitamin , vitamin b , sickle cell anemia , disease , reference range , anemia , endocrinology
Abstract. Objective. The aim of this study was to estimate the levels of vitamin B 12 in patients with severe sickle cell disease compared to normal controls. Complete blood count, iron studies and vitamin B 12 levels were obtained in 85 consecutive patients with severe sickle cell disease (56 males, 29 females, aged 14–49 years) and 100 healthy blood donors (67 males, 33 females, aged 17–60 years) as a normal control group. Results. Thirty‐seven of the 85 patients (43.5%) had serum vitamin B 12 levels below normal values (mean 84.3 ± 28.7, range 7–145 pmol L −1 ) without macrocytosis or hypersegmented neutrophils. The mean level of vitamin B 12 in the remaining 48 patients (56.5%) was normal (mean 233.3 ± 73.9, range 152–435 pmol L −1 ) which is below the mean of normal control levels (mean 327.7 ± 168.7, range 178–897 pmol L −1 ). Patients with low B 12 achieved a significant symptomatic improvement when treated with vitamin B 12 , 1 mg intramuscularly weekly for 12 weeks when compared with patients with normal B 12 levels. Conclusion. We conclude that many patients with severe sickle cell disease may suffer from unrecognized vitamin B 12 deficiency.