Kashif Rasheed Shaikh, Shumaila Shaikh, Sadia Tabassum, Shagufta Memon, Umair Ali Soomro, Shomail Saeed Siddiqui, Haji Khan Khoharo.
Vitamin Cobalamin deficiency in macrocytic anemia reporting at a Tertiary Care Hospital.
Professional Med J Jan ;28(04):527-32.

Objective: Determine the frequency of vitamin cobalamin deficiency in macrocytic anemia cases reporting at tertiary care hospital. Study Design: Cross Sectional study. Setting: Faculty of Medicine and Allied Medical Sciences, Isra University, Hyderabad, Sindh Pakistan. Period: January 2017 to October 2018. Material & Methods: 450 cases of both genders, diagnosed as macrocytic- megaloblastic anemia were studied for the vitamin Cobalamin levels. Cases were collected through non- probability convenient sampling by inclusion and exclusion criteria. Consenting volunteers were asked for blood sampling. 5 mL blood was taken from ante - cubital fossa. Samples were centrifuged and sera were collected for the estimation of vitamin cobalamin by ELISA - assay kit. Continuous and categorical variables were entered in SPSS (version 21.0) and analyzed by Student t-test and Chi-square test respectively at 95% CI (P <= 0.05). Results: Male and female comprised 225 (43.3%) and 294 (56.6%) of 519 subjects. Male to female ratio was noted 1.30:1. MCV, MCH and MCHC show statistically significant difference between male and female (P<0.05). MCV in male was 96.8+-9.92 fl vs. 105.5+-12.04 fl in female (P=0.0001). Normal cobalamin was noted in 15.2% (n= 79) and any type of cobalamin deficiency was noted in 84.7% (n= 440) (P=0.0001). Conclusion: The present study reports frequency of 84.7% Cobalamin deficiency in macrocytic anemia reporting at Indus Medical College Hospital. Further studies are recommended by the treating physicians.

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