Oral Cyanocobalamin is Effective in the Treatment of Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Crohn's Disease

• Published in: Nutrients 2017-03, Vol.9 (3), p.308
• Main Authors: Gomollón, Fernando, Gargallo, Carla J, Muñoz, Jose Fernando, Vicente, Raquel, Lue, Alberto, Mir, Alberto, García-Alvarado, Marta, Gracia, Marta, García-López, Santiago
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Administration, Oral; Adolescent; Adult; cohort studies; Crohn disease; Crohn Disease - blood; Crohn Disease - complications; Crohn Disease - drug therapy; Crohn's disease; Cyanocobalamin; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Female; Humans; Ileum; Maintenance; malabsorption; Male; Nutrient deficiency; oral administration; Patients; resection; Retrospective Studies; Treatment Outcome; Vitamin B 12 - administration & dosage; Vitamin B 12 Deficiency - blood; Vitamin B 12 Deficiency - complications; Vitamin B 12 Deficiency - drug therapy; Vitamin B12; Vitamin deficiency; Young Adult
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu9030308

Cobalamin deficiency is common in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). Intramuscular cobalamin continues to be the standard therapy for the deficiency and maintenance treatment in these patients, although oral route has been demonstrated to be effective in other pathologies with impaired absorption. Our aims were to evaluate the efficacy of oral therapy in the treatment of cobalamin deficiency and in long-term maintenance in patients with Crohn's disease. We performed a multicenter retrospective cohort study that included 94 patients with Crohn's disease and cobalamin deficiency. Seventy-six patients had B12 deficiency and 94.7% of them normalized their cobalamin levels with oral treatment. The most used dose was 1 mg/day, but there were no significant differences in treatment effectiveness depending on the dose used (≥1 mg/24 h vs.