title: The prevalence of vitamin K deficiency in chronic gastrointestinal disorders.
abstract: Vitamin K deficiency results in the appearance of abnormal prothrombin, deficient in gamma-carboxyglutamic acid, in the blood. The presence of abnormal prothrombin can be eliminated or lowered by the administration of vitamin K. Since the abnormal prothrombin antigen assay is approximately 1000-fold more sensitive than the prothrombin time for the diagnosis of vitamin K deficiency, this assay was used to evaluate patients with intestinal abnormalities. Vitamin K deficiency was found in 18 of 58 patients (31%) with chronic gastrointestinal disease and/or resection. All patients with vitamin K deficiency had either Crohn's disease involving the ileum or ulcerative colitis treated with sulfasalazine or antibiotics. Abnormal prothrombin levels returned toward normal in patients treated with vitamin K but not in patients who were not treated with vitamin K. The mean plasma vitamin E level in patients with vitamin K deficiency was significantly lower than in vitamin-K sufficient patients (p less than 0.01). We conclude that certain chronic forms of gastrointestinal disorders are associated with vitamin K deficiency.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011517:Prothrombin Time; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000097:blood; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000097:blood; D014813:Vitamin K Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology*
chemical_list: D014801:Vitamin A; D014810:Vitamin E