Journal of dental sciences
Significantly higher frequencies of anemia, vitamin B12 deficiency, and hyperhomocysteinemia in recurrent aphthous stomatitis patients with macrocytosis
By Wu YH, Wang YP, Lee YP and 3 others.
Abstract
Background/purpose
Macrocytosis is defined as having the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) ≥ 100 fL. This study evaluated whether 14 recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) patients with macrocytosis (macrocytosis/RAS patients) had significantly higher frequencies of anemia, hematinic deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum gastric parietal cell antibody (GPCA) positivity than 430 healthy control subjects or 430 RAS patients.
Materials and methods
Complete blood count, serum iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, homocysteine, and GPCA levels in 14 macrocytosis/RAS patients, 430 RAS patients, and 430 healthy control subjects were measured and compared.
Results
We found that 92.9%, 14.3%, 85.7%, 0.0%, 85.7%, and 35.7% of 14 macrocytosis/RAS patients were diagnosed as having anemia, serum iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity, respectively. Moreover, 14 macrocytosis/RAS patients had significantly higher frequencies of anemia, serum vitamin B12 deficiency, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity than 430 healthy control subjects or 430 RAS patients (all P-values <0.05). In addition, 14 macrocytosis/RAS patients also had a significantly higher frequency of serum iron deficiency than 430 healthy control subjects (P < 0.001). Pernicious anemia was found in 4 of 14 macrocytosis/RAS patients.