Are B12 and B9 Deficiencies Independently Linked to Cardiovascular Biomarkers? Insights from a Cross-Sectional Analysis

Abstract Backgrounds/Objectives: The effect of cobalamin and folate deficiency on cardiovascular disease is still unclear. We assessed the association of cobalamin and folate deficiency on lipidic and non-lipidic markers of cardiovascular disease in a large laboratory database. Subjects/Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on a large database of a tertiary hospital’s laboratory information system between 2017 and 2022. The study included laboratory data of Lebanese outpatients and cardiology inpatients. The following biological assays on serum were used: cobalamin, folate, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, creatinine, glycated hemoglobin, ferritin, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, uric acid and homocysteine. Age, gender and a surrogate for cardiovascular disease were also used. Odds ratios adjusted for age, gender, inflammatory biomarkers and vitaminic status were derived using separate logistic regression models. Results: A total of 20,836 observations were included, of which 2.0% presented clinical cobalamin deficiency. The effect of cobalamin and folate deficiencies, while significantly affected cardiovascular biomarkers in univariate analyses, disappeared after adjusting on age, gender and inflammation biomarkers. Conclusion: In this exploratory analysis, cobalamin and folate deficiencies were not significantly associated with abnormal lipid values and non-lipidic markers of cardiovascular disease.