Evaluation of Serum Vitamin B12, Folic acid and Homocysteine levels in Stroke Patients.

Abstract

Homocysteine, vitamin B12 andfolate have been associated with Cerebrovascular Accidents. A number of cross-sectional, case controlled cohort studies have demonstrated an association between high homocysteine level and increased risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and there are equal numbers of studies that show no increase in risk, and there is still a debate as to the strength and validity of the association. This study was done with the objective to estimate the serum levels of vitamin B 12, folic acid and homocysteine in normal healthy controls and patients with stroke and to compare and correlate the values between these two groups. A total of 30 patients with acute ischemic stroke and 30 apparently healthy individuals were included in the study and their serum levels of vitamin B12, folic acid and homocysteine were estimated and statistically analyzed. On analysis; it was found that median serum level of vitamin B12 and folic acid in stroke patients was significantly lower than the controls (p < 0.001) and median serum level of total homocysteine in stroke patients was significantly higher than the controls (p= 0.009). It was also noted that there was a significant negative correlation between homocysteine and folic acid in controls while there was no significant correlation between homocysteine and vitamin B12 in both the groups. In conclusion, these results show that low levels of serum vitamin B12, folic acid and high levels of serum homocysteine are significantly associated with acute ischemic stroke.