Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2013) 32 P465 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.32.P465

ECE2013 Poster Presentations Diabetes (151 abstracts)

Vitamin B12 deficiency in type 2 diabetic patients on metformin

Mitra Niafar , Behrad Jamali , Hosseyn Alikhah & Amir Bahrami


Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, East Azerbayjan, Iran.


Introduction: Metformin is the only biguanide that is currently in use as an oral hypoglycemic agent in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). There are reports about the vitamin B12 deficiency in metformin users. This study was aimed to evaluate the vitamin B12 deficiency in patients with type 2 DM using metformin or other hypoglycemic agents.

Methods: A descriptive-comparative study was performed on 400 patients with type 2 DM presenting to Endocrinology Clinic since Jan 2011 to Jan 2012. The enrolled patients were divided in two groups: i) those receiving metformin from 6 months ago (n=200); and ii) those receiving hypoglycemic agents other than metformin (n=200). Blood samples were taken from all patients after 12 h fasting and serum vitamin B12 and other variables were measured and compared between two groups.

Results: Patients receiving metformin had significantly lower Vitamin B12 levels (320.94±141.34 vs 408.50±175.07 pmol/l, P<0.001) and higher prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency (14.5 vs 2%, P<0.001). There was negative correlation between vitamin B12 levels with weight (r=−0.18, P<0.001) and BMI (r=−0.11, P=0.02) and positive correlation between vitamin B12 and metformin administration (r=0.26, P<0.001).

Conclusion: Patients with type 2 DM under long-term metformin therapy had lower vitamin B12 levels than those under other hypoglycemic drugs. The relation between vitamin B12 deficiency and metformin therapy indicates the need for periodic measurement of serum vitamin B12 level in patients under long-term metformin therapy.

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