Gender based deficiency of vitamin B12 in patients on metformin for diabetes mellitus.

Abstract

Objective: To determine deficiency of vitamin B12 among patients on metformin due to type II diabetes mellitus. Study Design: Cross Sectional Observational study. Setting: Department of General Medicine, Naz Memorial Hospital, Lahore. Period: April 2020 to March 2021. Material & Methods: After ethical approval and informed consent patients of type II diabetes on single oral hypoglycemic drug metformin for at least six months, in-between 25-60 years of age, on 850 mg metformin twice a day were included. Patients with history of metformin use in addition to another oral hypoglycemic drug were excluded. SPSS was used for data analysis. Quantitative data was expressed as mean and standard deviation and qualitative variables as frequency and percentages. Chi-square test was applied keeping p-value <0.05 as statistically significant. Results: From 240 patients with mean age of patients was 44.62 ± 5.5 years with a mean BMI of 30.91 ± 2.74 kg/m2. Mean hemoglobin was  11.5 ± 1.3 g/dl and mean hematocrit of 34.77 ± 5.58%, mean glycosylated hemoglobin 7.34 ± 0.73%, mean duration of diabetes mellitus 2.60 ± 0.7 years, mean use of metformin 1.99 ± 0.7 years. Mean level of vitamin B12 was 240 ± 76.6 pg/ml. Normal vitamin B12 level, >300 pg/ml was observed in 41 (17.1%), borderline level in 97 (40.4%) while deficiency in 102 (42.5%) of patients. Conclusion: Majority of patients were found to have either borderline or deficiency of vitamin B 12. Furthermore, amongst the patients having vitamin B 12 deficiency, a significant difference in-between the deficiency of vitamin B 12 was found among females when compared to males.