Vitamin B12 levels in pregnancy influence erythropoietin response to anemia.
OBJECTIVE
to discover whether vitamin B12 levels influence erythropoietin (EPO) response during pregnancy.


METHODS
117 pregnant women after the 27th week were divided into three groups according to log vitamin B12 concentrations. EPO (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), Hemoglobin (Hb) and medium corpuscular Hb concentration (MCHC) were measured in these patients. The tests used were: calculation of simple statistic, regression coefficient and t-independent test with level of significance. An exclusive partitioned cluster method (K-means procedure) was used.


RESULTS
For the lowest vitamin B12 levels there is an unexpected lack of difference in plasma EPO levels between anemic and nonanemic patients. In fact EPO levels were high even in nonanemic women. The only parameter of the blood count that seems to change in relation to vitamin B12 concentration is the MCHC.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that low vitamin B12 levels inhibit the suppression of EPO response in nonanemic pregnant women probably through MCHC modifications.
Clinica Ostetrica e Ginecologica dell'Università, Siena, Italy.
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Carretti
A
A
Ditto
C G
CG
Guidoni
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood*; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011250:Pregnancy Complications, Hematologic / Q000097:blood*; D014805:Vitamin B 12 / Q000097:blood*
D006454:Hemoglobins; D004921:Erythropoietin; D014805:Vitamin B 12