TY - JOUR T1 - Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) deficiency in elderly patients. AU - Andrès,Emmanuel, AU - Loukili,Noureddine Henoun, AU - Noel,Esther, AU - Kaltenbach,Georges, AU - Abdelgheni,Maher Ben, AU - Perrin,Anne Elisabeth, AU - Noblet-Dick,Marie, AU - Maloisel,Frédéric, AU - Schlienger,Jean-Louis, AU - Blicklé,Jean-Frédéric, PY - 2004/8/4/pubmed PY - 2004/9/17/medline PY - 2004/8/4/entrez SP - 251 EP - 9 JF - CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne JO - CMAJ VL - 171 IS - 3 N2 - Vitamin B12 or cobalamin deficiency occurs frequently (> 20%) among elderly people, but it is often unrecognized because the clinical manifestations are subtle; they are also potentially serious, particularly from a neuropsychiatric and hematological perspective. Causes of the deficiency include, most frequently, food-cobalamin malabsorption syndrome (> 60% of all cases), pernicious anemia (15%-20% of all cases), insufficient dietary intake and malabsorption. Food-cobalamin malabsorption, which has only recently been identified as a significant cause of cobalamin deficiency among elderly people, is characterized by the inability to release cobalamin from food or a deficiency of intestinal cobalamin transport proteins or both. We review the epidemiology and causes of cobalamin deficiency in elderly people, with an emphasis on food-cobalamin malabsorption syndrome. We also review diagnostic and management strategies for cobalamin deficiency. SN - 0820-3946 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/15289425/full_citation L2 - http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=15289425 DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -