Study Of Serum Level Of Folic Acid And Vitamin B₁₂ And Cognitive Disorders In Vascular Dementia

Objective: The serum level of folic acid and Vitamin B₁2 was determined in patients of vascular dementia(VD), non-dementia cerebrovascular disease(NDCVD) and the healthy senile. VD patients were treated with folic acid and Vitamin B₁2. Cognitive status was evaluated by using mini mental state examination (MMSE) to see if there was any difference. By analysis we studied the effect of folic acid and Vitamin B₁2 on VD and possible mechanism.Method: Selecting the inpatients and outpatients in Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, the Fourth People's Hospital of Jinan and the People's Hospital of Chiping County during 2003.7-2004.12. 80 patients were selected. Group distributions: VD 40 with male 24, female 16, age 55⁸8, means 72.8±7.1; NDCVD 40 with male 22, female 18, age 57⁸3, means 68.2±5.3. 40 healthy senile were selected at random as the control group with male 24, female 16, age 60⁸1 and means 67.0±3.4.VD was diagnosed by Hachinski scale after examination of MMSE accordant with NINDS-AIREN standard by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke(NINDS) and the Association Internationale pour la Recherche et l'Enseignement en Neurosciences (AIREN) . NDCVD was accordant with the diagnostic standard revised at the fourth academic meeting of the national cerebrovascular disease.VD group was randomly divided into two groups: treating group, Folic acid andVitamin B12 were administered 28 days; and folic acid/Vitamin Bi2 blank group with no folic acid and Vitamin B12 administration. The patients in these groups were evaluated by neurological physical examinations, routine laboratory tests (blood, urine, and faeces routines; hepatic function; renal function; cholesterol; triglycerid; lipoprotein, electrolytes; EKG, CT or MRI). Fast blood samples (4ml) were obtained in the morning. Serums were separated immediately and kept in freezer below -20°C for batch examination. Serum folic acid (marked by I125) and Vitamin B12 (marked by Co57) was examined with radioimmunoassay. Median and 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated because of the non-normal distribution of serum folic acid and Vitamin Bn concentration. The difference was analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test of Nonparametric test, X2 test in qualitative data and by analysis of variance (ANOVA) in quantitative data with the criterion of two side test P