Abstract:

Vitamin B12 deficiency is a clinical entity that is common in children and can comfort with a wide variety of findings. This study was conducted to draw attention to the fact that Vitamin B12 deficiency may confront many symptoms and findings without anemia. METHODS: Our study was retrospective and performed by 309 patients who applied policlinics for various reasons of Zeynep Kamil Women And Children Diseases Hospital between the dates of January 2015 and July 2015. At the study children whose Vitamin B12 levels measured for any reason were inspected.Besides Vitamin B12 levels,level of folate, iron, iron binding capacity, ferritin, parameters of hemogram and reasons of application to policlinic were evaluated statistically. RESULTS: Vitamin B12 deficiency was detected in 43.7 (135) of 309 cases whereas Vitamin B12 level 56.3 (174).In cases with B12 deficiency, fatigue 20.5 (26), loss of appetite 17.3 (22), paleness 15 (19), growth retardation 8.7 (11) and other complaints (impaired walking, convulsions, diarrhea, percent swelling, early puberty, menstrual irregularity etc.) were found to be 35.4 (45). In case withVitamin B12 deficiency, hemoglobin value was low in only 35.1 % (47), normal in 61.9 % (83) and hematocrit was low in 38.8 % (52), normal in 56 % (75) and only 4.8 % (4) of cases of high levelmean corpusculer volume (MCV). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Vitamin B12 deficiency can show itself with many symptoms and findings without causing macrositer anemia. This conclusion will be useful in the early recognition of Vitamin B12 deficiency and prevention of complications that may arise considering the patient approaches

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