Increased Risk of Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Diabetic Patients Taking Metformin

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Increased Risk of Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Diabetic Patients Taking

Metformin

http://www.vitasearch.com/CP/weeklyupdates/

Reference: " Risk factors of vitamin B(12) deficiency in patients

receiving metformin, " Ting RZ, Szeto CC, et al, Arch Intern Med, 2006;

166(18): 1975-9. (Address: Department of Medicine and Therapeutics,

Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin,

Hong Kong).

Summary: In a nested, case-control study involving 155 subjects with

diabetes mellitus and vitamin B12 deficiency secondary to metformin

treatment, and 310 matched controls, current dose and duration of

metformin use was found to be associated with an increased risk of

vitamin B12 deficiency. Metformin (brand name: Glucophage) is a common

drug used to treat persons with type 2 diabetes, as well as other

conditions such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Subjects in the

study had serum vitamin B12 concentrations of 148.6 pg/mL, compared to

control subjects who had serum vitamin B12 concentrations of 466.1

pg/mL. Analysis adjusted for confounding factors found statistically

significant correlations between dose and duration of metformin use and

vitamin B12 deficiency. Specifically, each increase in metformin dose of

1 g/day led to a 2.88 odds ratio of developing B12 deficiency, and

subjects taking metformin more than 3 years had a 2.39 adjusted odds

ratio of developing B12 defic iency. Dose of metformin was found to be

the strongest predictor of vitamin B12 deficiency, after excluding

subjects with borderline vitamin B12 concentrations. The results of this

study suggest that diabetic persons taking the drug, metformin, may be

at an increased risk of vitamin B12 deficiency.

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