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Prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in South Indians with different grades of glucose tolerance

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Abstract

Aims

To determine the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in an urban south Indian population in individuals with different grades of glucose tolerance.

Methods

A total of 1500 individuals [900 normal glucose tolerance (NGT), 300 prediabetes and 300 type 2 diabetes (T2DM)] who were not on vitamin B12 supplementation were randomly selected from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiological Study (CURES) follow-up study. Anthropometric, clinical and biochemical investigations, which included vitamin B12, insulin, homocysteine, HbA1c and serum lipids, were measured. Vitamin B12 ≤ 191 pg/ml was defined as absolute vitamin B12 deficiency and vitamin B12 > 191 pg/ml and ≤ 350 pg/ml as borderline deficiency.

Results

The mean levels of vitamin B12 significantly decreased with increasing degrees of glucose tolerance (NGT 444 ± 368; prediabetes 409 ± 246; T2DM 389 ± 211 pg/ml, p = 0.021). The prevalence of absolute vitamin B12 deficiency was 14.9% while 37.6% had borderline deficiency. The prevalence of absolute vitamin B12 deficiency was significantly higher among individuals with T2DM (18.7%) followed by prediabetes (15%) and NGT(13.7%) [p for trend = 0.05]. The prevalence of vitamin B12 significantly increased with age (p < 0.05) and in those with abdominal obesity (p < 0.001). Men and vegetarians had twice the risk of vitamin B12 deficiency compared to women and non-vegetarians, respectively. Among individuals with NGT, prediabetes and T2DM, vitamin B12 negatively correlated with homocysteine.

Conclusion

This study reports that the levels of vitamin B12 decreased with increasing severity of glucose tolerance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI) for the financial support for the study through their research grant (Project No: RSSDI/HQ/Grants/2014/250). We also thank the participants for their cooperation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre, WHO Collaborating Centre for Non-communicable Diseases Prevention and Control, ICMR Centre for Advanced Research on Diabetes, No:6B, Conran Smith Road, Gopalapuram, Chennai, 600086, India

    Ramamoorthy Jayashri, Ulagamathesan Venkatesan, Menon Rohan, Kuppan Gokulakrishnan, Coimbatore Subramanian Shanthi Rani, Mohan Deepa, Ranjit Mohan Anjana, Viswanathan Mohan & Rajendra Pradeepa

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  1. Ramamoorthy Jayashri
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  2. Ulagamathesan Venkatesan
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Correspondence to Rajendra Pradeepa.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Jayashri, R., Venkatesan, U., Rohan, M. et al. Prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in South Indians with different grades of glucose tolerance. Acta Diabetol 55, 1283–1293 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-018-1240-x

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