Nutritional megaloblastic anemia in young Turkish children is associated with vitamin B-12 deficiency and psychomotor retardation

We aimed to investigate the presence of psychomotor retardation, physical and laboratory examination in infants with megaloblastic anemia. Inclusion criteria for the study were; age 9 to 36 months, refusal of food except for breast and cow milk, loss of appetite, developmental delay, significant pallor, and hypersegmentation neutrophils in the peripheral blood smear. A total of 33 children fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled among 3368 patients attending Pediatric Outpatient Clinics of Sirnak-Cizre State Hospital between January 25, 2004 and May 5, 2004. Mean age was 16.4 months. Thirty-two patients had Vitamin B(12) deficiency, 1 patient had folate deficiency, and 10 patients had combined vitamin B(12) and folate deficiency. Statistically, a positive significant relationship was detected between serum vitamin B(12) levels and mean corpuscular volume (P = 0.001, r = 0.56), and between vitamin B(12) levels and hemoglobin (P = 0.004, r = 0.49). We believe that preventative measures such as fortification of flour with vitamin B(12), nutritional support with vitamin B(12) for the mother during pregnancy and nursing, provision of adequate primary preventive health services, and starting complementary food after 6 months of age are important determinants for preventing megaloblastic anemia.