COGNITIVE FUNCTION BASED ON VITAMIN B12 LEVELS IN PATIENTS VISITING OPD WITH COGNITIVE DECLINE
Authors: Yoon *Seoyoung , Kim Seng Yoon 
Published: February 2025

Background

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.

Aims & Objectives

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

Method

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: &lt;350pg/mL as Deficit, 350-950pg/mL as normal, and &gt;950pg/mL as hyper. The patient data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 25, ANOVA and ANCOVA were performed.

Result

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).

Conclusion & Discussion

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.

References

(1)Kim, H., Kim, G., Jang, W. et al.Association between intake of B vitamins and cognitive function in elderly Koreans with cognitive impairment. Nutr J 13, 118 (2014).

(2)Soh Y, Lee DH, Won CW. Association between Vitamin B12 levels and cognitive function in the elderly Korean population. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Jul 24;99(30):e21371.

(3)Meng H, Li Y, Zhang W, et al. The relationship between cognitive impairment and homocysteine in a B12 and folate deficient population in China: a cross-sectional study. Medicine 2019;98:e17970.

(4)Ellinson M, Thomas J, Patterson A. A critical evaluation of the relationship between serum vitamin B, folate and total homocysteine with cognitive impairment in the elderly. J Hum Nutr Diet 2004;17: 371–83

(5)Podzolkov VI, Dragomiretskaya NA, Dambaeva OT, Auvinen ST, Medvedev ID. Hypervitaminosis B12 - a new marker and predictor of prognostically unfavorable diseases. Ter Arkh. 2019 Aug 15;91(8):160-167.