Evaluation of Serum Folate Level and its Effects on Red Cells Parametersin Celiac Disease Patients

Abstract

Celiac disease is a genetically based auto-immune disorder that leads to malabsorption from the small intestine, it occurs in children as well as adults who are susceptible when they eat gluten which is a protein found in cereals such as wheat, rye, barely and possibly oat(Green and Cellier,2007). This is descriptive cross-sectional study, conducted on 40 patients with celiac diseasereferred to Ibn Sinaa Hospital; Khartoum, Sudan. At the period from April to August 2016; their age ranged from 2 to 43 years old (16.5 +10.2); 30(75%) were females and 10 (25%) were males. The study aimed to assess serum folate level in patients with celiac disease, and to correlate the finding with patient’s gender, age, red cells parameters, dietary program commitment, and duration of disease. Three milliliter of blood were collected from each patient in plain container; serum is prepared and then serum folate measured by immunoassay using cobas e411. The result showed that there were 11(27.5%) of the patients were with low serum folate level {reference values for adults: 2-20 ng/ml; children 5-20 ng/ml}, all of them were children, 6 (66%) of them were males and 5 (44%) were females. The study found that except for MCV & MCH there was no significant correlation between folate level and red cells parameters, duration of disease and diet; but there is significant difference with age and gender (p.value <0.05). The study concluded that there were 11(27.5%) patients with folate deficiency and all of them were children, a significant correlation was found between folate deficiency and gender, except for MCV and MCH no statistically significant difference was found in RBCs parameters, diet and duration of disease.