Investigation of vitamin B12 deficiency in elderly inpatients in department of neurology / 临床神经病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the status of vitamin(Vit)B12 deficiency in elderly inpatients in department of neurology.Methods 827 patients admitted to the department of neurology of Shanghai Punan hospital from March 2007 to July 2008,aged 60 and older,with no severe hepatosis and renal disfunction,and without using VitB12 preparation for 3 months,were included in the study.The levels of serum VitB12,folate,homocysteine(Hcy) were tested to screened patients with VitB12 deficiency.The results of symptoms,positive signs of neurological system and the laboratory examination were analysed and compared between patients with or without VitB12 deficiency.Results There were 827 patients,with the mean age of(77.1?7.5)years old,fulfilled the enrolling criteria.VitB12 deficiency was found in 163 patients(19.7%).The prevalence was higher in female(21.9%)than male(17.4%),which had a tendency of increased with age.In the patients with VitB12 deficiency,the rate of complicating gastrointestinal diseases was higher.Compared with patients with normal serum VitB12 level,there were more cases suffered from unstable gait(27.0%),hypopallesthesia(34.4%),and more cases combined with some chronic diseases such as cerebral infarction(62.6%),hypertension(68.7%),coronary heart disease(39.9%).77% cases had neuroelectricphysiological abnormalities,but only 9.82% cases had megaloblastic anemia.Conclusions VitB12 deficiency is common in elderly inpatients in neurology department,whose clinical manifestations are various and atypical,and the neurological symptoms are more common than megaloblastic anemia.