COGNITIVE FUNCTION BASED ON VITAMIN B12 LEVELS IN PATIENTS VISITING OPD WITH COGNITIVE DECLINE

The relationship between Vitamin B12 and cognitive function is an issuing medical topic, as the aging population grows. Vitamin B12 serves as a co-factor in DNA synthesis within the body, playing a crucial role in processes like myelin synthesis in central nervous system. While numerous studies are ongoing regarding the impact of Vitamin B12 deficiency on cognitive function and its correlation with total homocysteine, the results remain controversial. Also excessive Vitamin B12 is an area that is still relatively underexplored.

Therefore, this study aims to evaluate cognitive function by categorizing participants into three groups: Vitamin B12 deficit, Vitamin B12 normal, and Vitamin B12 hyper.

From March 1, 2017, to June 30, 2023, we recruited a total of 108 outpatient individuals at the Department of Psychiatry, Daegu Catholic University Hospital, who presented with cognitive decline and had undergone both Vitamin B12 assessment and MMSE-KC. Vitamin B12 levels were categorized as follows: <350pg/mL as Deficit, 350-950pg/mL as normal, and >950pg/mL as hyper. The patient data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 25, ANOVA and ANCOVA were performed.

This study included total of 108 participants (mean [SD] age, 77.44 [7.136] years; 34 male [31.5%]). In the case of the Vitamin B12 groups, there was no statistically significant difference observed in the average MMSE scores (p=0.924). Also in the covariate analysis adjusted for age, folate, total homocysteine, and Vitamin B1, there was no statistically significant difference observed in the average MMSE scores between the Vitamin B12 groups(p=0.942). It was observed that as the Vitamin B12 levels increased, the total homocysteine levels decreased; however, this did not yield statistically significant result. (p=0.510).

In this study, we did not observe significant results regarding the association between Vitamin B12 and cognitive function, as well as total homocysteine. While this study included the excessive vitamin B12 group, it also had limitations. Firstly, the Vitamin B12 deficit group consisted of only 10 individuals, resulting in a small sample size and limited statistical power. Secondly, factors such as whether the Vitamin B12 group consumed multivitamin supplements were not taken into consideration. Therefore, additional clinical research is deemed necessary.

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