Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39543012›Full record

ArticleEuropean geriatric medicine2025

Prevalence, associated factors, and impact of vitamin B12 deficiency in older medical inpatients.

Ioanna Papakitsou, Andria Papazachariou, Theodosios Filippatos

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Article in European geriatric medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

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0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. KDIGO 2026 Clinical Practice Guideline for Anemia in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD): a commentary from the European Renal Best Practice (ERBP).Nephrology, dialysis, transplantation : official publication of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association - European Renal Association · 2026
    Article
  2. Vitamin BNutrients · 2026
    Review
4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Ioanna PapakitsouSchool of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003, Heraklion, Greece.
Andria PapazachariouSchool of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003, Heraklion, Greece. apapazachariou@hotmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0003-4320-0010
Theodosios FilippatosSchool of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003, Heraklion, Greece.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThis retrospective cohort study aims to explore the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in older hospitalized adults and identify key factors associated with this deficiency, as well as its impact on frailty and functional decline.

methodsData were collected from older adults (≥65 years) sequentially admitted to the Internal Medicine Department of a tertiary university hospital. Clinical and laboratory characteristics, including age, sex, somatometric data, cause of admission, past medical history, chronic medication use, and laboratory tests, were recorded. Frailty and functional status were assessed using the Fried Frailty Scale (FFS), Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), Barthel Index, and Katz Index. Vitamin B12 levels on admission were categorised as deficient (<200 pg/ml), borderline (200-300 pg/ml), normal (300-999 pg/ml), and high (≥1000 pg/ml).

resultsA total of 894 patients were included. The median age was 83 years and 487 (54.5%) were females. The prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency was found in 9.1%, while 17.3% of the sample had borderline levels. Multivariate analysis identified polypharmacy (≥5 drugs), low albumin levels/Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), and nursing home residency as independent factors associated with low B12 levels. Multivariate analyses showed that B12 deficiency was significantly associated with higher frailty rates and lower functional status.

conclusionVitamin B12 deficiency is prevalent among hospitalized older patients and is significantly associated with increased frailty and reduced functional status. These findings underscore the importance of routine screening for B12 deficiency in this vulnerable population to improve clinical outcomes and quality of life.

Indexed as

FrailtyInpatientsVitamin B 12 DeficiencyAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleFrail ElderlyGeriatric AssessmentHospitalizationHumansMalePolypharmacyPrevalenceRetrospective StudiesRisk FactorsVitamin B 12Vitamin B 12B12 deficiencyMedical inpatientsOlder adultsPrevalenceVitamin B12 levels

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.