Evaluation of Serum Iron and Vitamin B12 Levels among Helicobacter Pylori Infected Patients in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This is a hospital-based analytical case-control study aimed to evaluate serum iron and vitamin B12 among Helicobacter pylori infected patients in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the study conducted during the period from January to July 2019. Under aseptic conditions 5 mL of venous blood was collected from 100 participants who selected conviniously (50 were H. pylori infected patients as cases and 50 apparently healthy individuals as controls). H. pylori screening for antibodies was detected by strips, serum iron was measured using Humalyzer 3000 analyzer and vitamin B12 was measured by electrochemiluminescenc Cobas e411 immunoassay analyzers. The data obtained was analyzed by the SPSS program. The age of H. pylori patients range for 11 to 75 years with mean age was (33.6) years and in controls range for 15 to 72 years with mean age was (38.0) years. The gender of H. pylori patients males were 14(28%), and females were 36(72%) and in healthy controls males were 15(30%), and females were 35(70%). The level of serum iron among cases was (64.6 ± 25.4), and in controls was (95.0 ± 40.8), with statistically significant difference between cases and controls (P. value = 0.000). The level of vitamin B12 among cases was (532.1±233.0), and in controls was (657.96±351.9), with statistically significant difference between cases and controls (P. value = 0.015). The relation between iron and vitamin B12 with treatment showed that the levels of iron and vitamin B12 were (73±34 and 595 ±273) in treated patients and (63±24 and 523 ±229) in non- treated, with statistically insignificant differences between treated and non-treated patients (P. value = 0.37 and 0.48) respectively. The comparison of iron and vitamin B12 with sex among cases showed that the levels among males were (79.6±31.1 and 673.3 ±314) and females were (58.8.±20.5 ; 477.1 ±167.5), with statistically significant increases in males than females (P. value = 0.008 and 0.006) respectively. The study found that there is no correlation between vitamin B12 and age (r= 0.09, sig= 0.519) and no correlation between iron and age (r = -0.027, sig= 0.85). The study concluded that H. pylori causes decrease in iron and vitamin B12 with more decrease in females than males and with no effect with treatment and age.