European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: Vitamin B12 deficiency is common and clinical manifestations are hematologic and neurological symptoms. Ferritin plays an important role in the storage of intracellular iron. Studies have documented serum ferritin and vitamin B12 deficiencies to be the major causes of nutritional anemia.
Objectives: To find out and correlate the levels of serum ferritin in vitamin B12 deficiency cases as compared to normal control group
Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out in Civil Hospital Ahmedabad from August 2017 to January 2018. A total of 120 subjects matched for age (16 to 60 years) and sex were included in this study (60 Vitamin B12 deficient and 60 normal control). Serum ferritin level was assessed in both case and control groups.  Data was analyzed using appropriate statistical parameter and significance was considered when p<0.05.
Results: Mean age of the cases involved in this study was 36.15 ± 13.49 years and majority of the cases (46.7%) were belongs to age group of 16-30 years. The mean serum ferritin level in cases (66.7±76.7 pg/ml) was significantly lower than in normal controlsv(111.45±79.46 pg/ml) (P value <0.05). The ferritin deficiency in male is not highly significant as seen in females (P value <0.05).
Conclusion: The data shows that in vitamin B12 deficiency there is a correlated Ferritin deficiency seen both in males and females. It can be concluded that in patients of vitamin B12 deficiency it is advisable to check for Serum Ferritin levels also.