Associations Between Folate And Vitamin B12 Levels And Ulcerative Colitis:A Meta-analysis

Background and Objective:The research related about associations between folate,vitamin B₁₂,homocysteine with ulcerative colitis was controversial.Therefore,our aims was to investigate the associations between folate,vitamin B₁₂,homocysteine with ulcerative colitis.Methods:Relevant literature about the associations between folate,vitamin B₁₂,homocysteine with ulcerative colitis was identified using the Pubmed database,Embase,Cochrane Library,Wang Fang database and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure until October,2017.Study selection and methodological quality of the articles were evaluated independently by two investigators.The study was filtered and data was extracted according to inclusion and exclusion criteria.Stata12.0 and RevMan5.2 were conducted for statistical analyses.Results:In the present analyses,16 trials were included.Overall analysis identified a significant difference of folate[SMD=-0.60,95%CI?-0.80,-0.41?,P<0.001],vitamin B₁₂[SMD=-0.56,95%CI?-0.93,-0.20?,P:0.002]and homocysteine[SMD=1.02,95%CI?0.69,1.35?,P<0.001]between case and control group.The levels of serum folate and vitamin B₁₂ in ulcerative colitis patients were significantly reduced compared with the healthy,whereas homocysteine was significantly increased compared with the healthy.Conclusions:The levels of serum folate and vitamin B₁₂ in ulcerative colitis patients were significantly reduced compared with those in healthy control group,whereas homocysteine was significantly increased compared with the healthy.Folate and vitamin B₁₂2 should be tested and supplemented early in ulcerative colitis patients,which could reduce the level of homocysteine and alleviate the homocysteine associated inflammation.