Casares-Ruíz M¹, Rodríguez-Sosa JT^2,3, Hernández-Fleitas JL^2,3, Alonso-Ortiz MB^1,3*, Santana-del Pino A³, Andrès E⁴, Lorenzo-Villalba N⁴

¹Internal Medicine Department, Gran Canaria Dr. Negrín University Hospital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
²Psyquiatry Department, Gran Canaria Dr. Negrín University Hospital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
³University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
⁴Internal Medicine Department, Strasbourg University Hospital. Strasbourg, France

*Corresponding Author: Alonso-Ortiz MB, Internal Medicine Department, Gran Canaria Dr. Negrín University Hospital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.

Received: January 19, 2022; Published: April 18, 2022

Abstract

Introduction: Diet is increasingly recognized as a potentially modifiable factor influencing the development and treatment of psychiatric disorders. Vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiencies may have a significant causal contribution in the development and mental illnesses exacerbations.

Objectives: The main objective was to study the prevalence of vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency in a group of psychiatric inpatients and to compare it with another cohort of Internal Medicine department. Also, a review of other nutritional epidemiological studies of psychiatric inpatients is carried out.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study evaluating the prevalence of vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency in newly psychiatric patients aged 18 years or more admitted to the acute hospitalization unit. Patients presenting a serum creatinine ≥2 mg/dL, advanced chronic liver disease, cognitive impairment, discharged or deceased with 48 hours after hospital admission were excluded. Matched controls were obtained from Internal Medicine department. Deficiency was considered with plasmatic levels lower to 200 pg/ml and 2.76 ng/ml for vitamin B12 and folic acid, respectively.

Results: 140 patients were included in the study, 70 patients of the Psychiatric unit and 70 patients of the Internal Medicine department. In total, 8 patients (11.4%) of the psychiatric cohort had vitamin B12 deficiency while folic acid deficiency was found in 27 (38.6%). The prevalence of these deficiencies obtained in the Internal Medicine cohort was identical. Mean values of cobalamin in controls were significantly higher than in psychiatric patients (p = 0.0381). Low folate levels were significantly associated with alcohol consumption and a correlation between elevated folate levels with age, female sex, and food disorder (n = 2) was obtained.

Conclusions: Vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiencies are prevalent among psychiatric inpatients, and there were no differences with respect to patients admitted to Internal Medicine department. The combined deficiency was more prevalent in the psychiatric inpatients than in patients from Internal Medicine department.

Keywords: Folic Acid Deficiency; Vitamin B12 Deficiency; Cobalamin Deficiency; Psychiatric Inpatients

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Citation

Citation: Alonso-Ortiz MB., et al. “Prevalence of Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid Deficiency in Patients with Severe Mental Disorders Admitted to Acute Psychiatric Unit and Review of the Literature". Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 6.5 (2022): 69-80.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Alonso-Ortiz MB., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.