Hemoglobin, iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies and hyperhomocysteinemia in Behcet's disease patients with atrophic glossitis

Background/Purpose: Behcet's disease (BD) patients should have recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) but they may or may not have atrophic glossitis (AG). This study mainly assessed whether 30 AG-positive RAS/BD (AG + RAS/BD) patients had significantly higher frequencies of hemoglobin, iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies and of hyperhomocysteinemia than 33 AG-negative RAS/BD (AG־RAS/BD) patients or 126 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. Methods: The blood hemoglobin, iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, and homocysteine concentrations were measured and compared among 30 AG + RAS/BD patients, 33 AG־RAS/BD patients, and 126 healthy control subjects. Results: We found that 43.3%, 33.3%, 13.3%, 6.7%, and 20.0% of 30 AG + RAS/BD patients and 18.2%, 36.4%, 0%, 6.1%, and 9.1% of 33 AG־RAS/BD patients had hemoglobin, iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies and hyperhomocysteinemia, respectively. Moreover, 30 AG + RAS/BD patients had significantly higher frequencies of hemoglobin, iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies and of hyperhomocysteinemia than healthy control subjects (all P-values < 0.05), and had a higher frequency of hemoglobin deficiency (P = 0.058, marginal significance) and a significantly higher frequency of vitamin B12 deficiency (P = 0.046) than 33 AG־RAS/BD patients. In addition, the 33 AG־RAS/BD patients had significantly higher frequencies of hemoglobin and iron deficiencies than healthy control subjects (both P-values < 0.001). Conclusion: We conclude that AG + RAS/BD patients do have significantly higher frequencies of hemoglobin, iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies and of hyperhomocysteinemia than healthy control subjects and have significantly higher frequencies of hemoglobin and vitamin B12 deficiencies than AG־RAS/BD patients.