Hematinic deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and gastric parietal cell antibody positivity in atrophic glossitis patients with macrocytosis.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Macrocytosis is defined as having the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) ≧ 100 fL. This study evaluated whether 41 atrophic glossitis (AG) patients with macrocytosis had significantly higher frequencies of anemia, hematinic deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum gastric parietal cell antibody (GPCA) positivity than 532 healthy control subjects or 1064 AG patients.

METHODS

Complete blood count, serum iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, homocysteine, and GPCA levels in 41 AG patients with macrocytosis, 1064 AG patients, and 532 healthy control subjects were measured and compared.

RESULTS

We found that 73.2%, 22.0%, 73.2%, 4.9%, 80.5%, and 56.1% of 41 AG patients with macrocytosis were diagnosed as having blood hemoglobin, iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity, respectively. Moreover, 41 AG patients with macrocytosis had significantly higher frequencies of blood hemoglobin and serum vitamin B12 deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity than 532 healthy control subjects or 1064 AG patients (all P-values < 0.001). In addition, 41 AG patients with macrocytosis also had significantly higher frequencies of serum iron and folic acid deficiencies than 532 healthy control subjects (both P-values < 0.001). Pernicious anemia was found in 22 AG patients with macrocytosis.

CONCLUSION

There are significantly higher frequencies of anemia and serum iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity in AG patients with macrocytosis than in healthy control subjects. AG patients with macrocytosis also have significantly higher frequencies of blood hemoglobin and serum vitamin B12 deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity than AG patients.