VITAMIN B12 AND FOLIC ACID DEFICIENCY IN PATIENTS WITH RECURRENT APHTHOUS STOMATITIS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background & Aims: Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS) is one of the most common painful oral mucosal conditions seen among patients. This study aimed to compare the vitamin B12 and folate intake in RAS-positive patients with the control group. Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 184 patients who were referred to Taleghani Hospital (Urmia, Iran) participated in the study. Vitamin B12 and folate serum levels were measured using Vitamin B12 Assay Kit (Siemens Healthineers Active-B12 (AB12) assay offered on the Atellica® IM Analyzer and ADVIA Centaur® CP), then oral examination of patients were taken to rule out the prevalence of RAS between participants. The serum level of vitamin B12 and folate were compared between patients with RAS and control group. The data were analyzed by IBM SPSS 20.0 (Chicago, USA). Results: The study subjects had significantly lower daily intake of vitamin B12 (p < 0.0001) as compared to the controls. No significant differences were observed with regard to folate intake between two groups (p = 0.579). Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that patients with RAS are more likely to have lower dietary intakes of vitamin B12 than the control group, but no difference was observed between two groups concerning the folate intake. These findings suggest that consuming sufficient amounts of Vitamin B12 may be a useful strategy to reduce the number and/or duration of RAS episodes.