title: Vitamin B 12 plasma concentrations in Alzheimer disease.
abstract: In this contribution we investigated the correlation between plasma vitamin B12 levels and cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease. We could demonstrate a significant inverse correlation when the MMSE scores of those patients with the lowest 10% Vitamin B12 plasma levels (<184 ng/ml) were compared with the upper 10% Vitamin B12 plasma levels (>598 ng/ml): p=0.008, Spearman-Rho= -0.36. MMSE in the upper percentile of plasma B12 levels was 20.0 +/- 4.6 and in the lower percentile 15.7 +/- 6.1, resulting in a difference of 4.3 MMSE points. We conclude, that vitamin B12 deficiency could aggravate or accelerate the course of Alzheimer disease as vitamin B12 possesses neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties.
authors.affiliation: Neurological Department, Median-Klinik Bad Suelze, Germany. stuerenburg@uke.uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: Hans Joerg
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Stuerenburg
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mueller-Thomsen
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Methner
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009420:Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D012016:Reference Values; D014805:Vitamin B 12 / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014805:Vitamin B 12