Study Reveals No Impact of Normal Vitamin B12 Levels on Diabetic Foot Ulcer Development
Researchers have reported that diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is one of the major complications of diabetes, normal vitamin B12 levels seem to offer no protection against the development of DFU. This conclusion was obtained from a retrospective case-control study conducted in Buraydah. The study was published in the journal of Cureus by Alruqayi and colleagues.
The study was conducted on 221 adult patients with type 2 diabetes who visited the diabetes center in Buraydah between January 2018 and August 2023. Study participants were categorized into cases-107 patients with DFU and controls-114 patients without DFU. All participants were more than 18 years old, and data were collected from electronic medical records.
The study utilized patients, considering a few of the risk factors for DFU including vitamin B12 levels, age, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), physical activity, and neuropathy. Vitamin B12 levels were in a normal range of 187-883 pg/mL. SPSS version 27.0.1 (IBM Corp.) was conducted to carry out statistical calculations toward achieving significance at p < 0.05 to identify the most influential associations between the variables .
• The mean age of the intervention group of subjects with DFU was 58.5 years, it was much higher than the mean age in the control group: 54.1 years.
• Mean HbA1c was significantly higher in cases with DFU (8.7, SD = 2.0) compared to controls (7.6, SD = 2.2) (p < 0.001), indicating poor diabetes control.
• The proportion of individuals being physically inactive was significantly more among cases (62.1%) than among controls (39.1%, p = 0.046).
• Neuropathy was strongly associated with DFU, with 59.1% of them having neuropathy compared to controls (23.5%) (p < 0.001).
• Dry foot and fissures (60.0% vs. 6.3%), Charcot joint (36.8% vs. 12.2%), and trauma to the foot (40.9% vs. 3.9%) were significantly higher in the case group than in the control groups (p < 0.001) for each of them.
• Although the majority of participants (79.2%) had normal vitamin B12 levels, no significant protective association was found between normalization of vitamin B12 levels and development of DFU.
No association with the prevention of diabetic foot ulcers was found concerning normal vitamin B12 levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. These findings suggest that diabetes management and prevention of DFUs are not only dependent upon controlling the glycemic levels but also on the attenuation of neuropathy. Further research would be essential to clarify the potential role of vitamin B12 in the prevention of DFUs.
Reference:
Alruqayi, D. M., Alsaud, J. S., Alsogaihi, J. M., Alsawyan, W., Almutlaq, L. Y., Alsuhaibani, A., Alshammari, A., Alghadouni, H., & Alharbi, M. (2024). The association between vitamin B12 deficiency and diabetic foot ulcer in type 2 diabetic patients in Qassim province, Saudi Arabia: A case-control study. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.68598
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