[Folic acid deficiency anemia caused by therapy in chronic renal insufficiency].

The turbidimetric determination of folic acid concentration in serum and erythrocytes was made by means of a spectrophotometer multiscan in 35 conservatively treated patients with chronic renal failure with a minimum creatine retention of 309 mumol/l and in 63 hemodialysed patients with terminal renal insufficiency. The result showed a statistically significant diminution of serum folic acid concentration in those patients treated in a conservative manner and a significant diminution of plasmatic and erythrocytic folate++ activity in patients under hemodialysis. There was a correlation between the folic acid concentration and the hemoglobin level in both groups of patients, whereas there was no correlation to the number of leukocytes and thrombocytes. A protein deficiency diet or loss of dialysis through the capillary membrane could be found to be the cause for the loss of folic acid. The possibility of folate++ substitutive therapy and its performance was discussed and recommended for selected indications.