Department of Biochemistry, Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dhulikhel, Kavrepalanchok, Nepal.
Department of Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery(CTVS), Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dhulikhel, Kavrepalanchok, Nepal.
J Nepal Health Res Counc. 2023 Mar 10;20(3):702-707. doi: 10.33314/jnhrc.v20i3.4407.
Deficiency of vitamin-B12 is widespread. Adults and the elderly are particularly susceptible to vitamin-B12 deficiency. This study investigated the burden of vitamin-B12 deficiency and insufficiency among adults and the elderly attending a tertiary care hospital in Nepal.
This is a retrospective chart review conducted at Dhulikhel hospital. We reviewed records of 1615 patients investigating Vitamin-B12 level (pmol/L) at the clinical biochemistry laboratory from laboratory management database MIDAS between June 2020 and December 2021. Vitamin-B12 level was measured using enzyme immunoassay in Abbott Architect i1000SR analyzer. The categorical variables are presented as frequency and percentage; and numerical variables as means and standard deviations, or median and Interquartile range. Pearson Chi-square test was used to determine association between categorical variables. Mann Whitney test and Kruskal Wallis H test were used to compare Vitamin-B12 level by categories.
There were 1454 participants of which 33.5% of the patients were deficient, 27.9% were borderline deficient, while 38.7% had adequate vitamin B12 levels. Young adults(170.4 pmol/L) had a lower median vitamin B12 level than middle-aged adults (183.7pmol/L) and the elderly population (247.9pmol/L) (P<0.001). Compared to females (186.7 pmol/L), males(171.9 pmol/L) had lower vitamin B12 level (P <0.05).
The study revealed that a significant proportion of young adults, middle aged adults and elderly population visiting a tertiary care hospital of Nepal are having vitamin B12 deficiency and borderline deficiency of public health concern. Keywords: Adults; deficiency; elderly, vitamin B12.
维生素 B12 缺乏很常见。成年人和老年人尤其容易出现维生素 B12 缺乏。本研究调查了尼泊尔一家三级保健医院就诊的成年人和老年人的维生素 B12 缺乏和不足的负担。
这是在 Dhulikhel 医院进行的回顾性图表审查。我们从实验室管理数据库 MIDAS 中查看了 2020 年 6 月至 2021 年 12 月间在临床生化实验室检测维生素 B12 水平（pmol/L）的 1615 名患者的记录。使用 Abbott Architect i1000SR 分析仪通过酶免疫测定法测量维生素 B12 水平。分类变量表示为频率和百分比；数值变量表示为平均值和标准差，或中位数和四分位距。使用 Pearson 卡方检验确定分类变量之间的关联。使用 Mann-Whitney 检验和 Kruskal-Wallis H 检验比较按类别划分的维生素 B12 水平。
共有 1454 名参与者，其中 33.5%的患者缺乏，27.9%的患者处于边缘缺乏状态，而 38.7%的患者维生素 B12 水平充足。年轻人（170.4 pmol/L）的维生素 B12 水平中位数低于中年人（183.7 pmol/L）和老年人（247.9 pmol/L）（P<0.001）。与女性（186.7 pmol/L）相比，男性（171.9 pmol/L）的维生素 B12 水平较低（P <0.05）。
研究表明，尼泊尔一家三级保健医院就诊的相当一部分年轻人、中年人以及老年人存在维生素 B12 缺乏和边缘缺乏，这是一个值得关注的公共卫生问题。关键词：成年人；缺乏；老年人；维生素 B12。
