Ajeet Kumar, Dileep Kumar, Salma Razzaque, Rajesh Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Muhammad Ishaq Ghauri.
An assessment of Vitamin B12 deficiency in Diabetic patients on Metformin therapy.
Isra Med J Jan ;12(2):73-6.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of Vitamin B12 deficiency in type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients on Metformin therapy. Study Design: An observational analytic cross-sectional study Place and Duration: Department of Medicine Jinnah Medical College Hospital from 1st January 2018 to 30th March 2019. Methodology: All patients having type 2 diabetes mellitus of age 31-84 years of either gender, taking metformin, were included in the study. The data included demographic characteristics, duration of diabetes and metformin treatment. A blood sample of all patients was obtained after an overnight fasting and samples were then sent to the hospital`s laboratory to measure the vitamin B12 levels. Serum vitamin B12 levels less than 170pg/ml were regarded as biochemical deficiency. Results: Out of 215 patients, frequency of vitamin B12 deficiency was found to be 29.3 %. About 55 vitamin B12 deficient patients were on metformin therapy from more than 4 years and showed statistically significant difference (p<0.05) . Average age was reported as 58.89+-13.12 years. The average duration of Diabetes mellitus and metformin therapy were reported as 9.93+-6.82 years and 9.60+-6.15 years respectively Conclusion: Vitamin B12 deficiency is prevalent in patients on metformin therapy especially above 50 years of age and taking metformin for more than four years which strongly suggests the routine screening of vitamin B12 in diabetic individual on metformin.

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