Prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia and hypovitaminosis B12 among acute ischemic stroke patients

Background: Deficiency of Vitamin B12 can lead to hyperhomocysteinemia. Hyperhomocysteinemia constitutes an abnormally high level of homocysteine in the serum, above the upper limit of normal for an environment. The two conditions are significant risk factors for the development of stroke. There is a paucity of data on the prevalence of these biochemical risk factors in stroke patients in our environment which brought about this study. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine how prevalent hyperhomocysteinemia and hypovitaminosis B12 are in acute ischemic stroke patients in Zaria. Materials and Mthods: This is a cross-sectional prospective study conducted from February 2014 to March 2015 in ABUTH Zaria. One hundred patients with clinical diagnosis of first-ever ischemic stroke confirmed by brain computed tomography scan, and another apparently healthy age- and sex-matched one hundred controls were recruited. Their fasting serum homocysteine and Vitamin B12 were determined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Prevalence of high homocysteine and low Vitamin B12 was determined. Results: Thirty-four percent (34%) of patients had high and 66% patients had normal serum homocysteine, whereas 81% of patients had low and 19% of patients had normal serum Vitamin B12, and the difference was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). There was significant negative correlation between serum homocysteine and Vitamin B12 among cases with P = 0.04 and r = −0.198. Conclusion: The Prevalence rates of hyperhomocysteinemia and hypovitaminosis B12 among ischemic stroke pateints were 34% and 81%, respectively.