Effect of B vitamin supplementation on plasma homocysteine levels in celiac disease

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of patients with celiac disease and healthy controls

Characteristic	Healthy controls (n = 50)	Celiac disease (n =51)	P1
Median age (range), yr	48 (18-62)	56 (18-63)	0.09
Men, n (%)	22 (44%)	20 (39%)	0.7
Mean body mass index ± SD	25.0 ± 3.6	22.0 ± 2.7	< 0.001
Smoking, n (%)	4 (8.0%)	4 (7.8%)	1.0
Median creatinine clearance (range), mL/min	89.85 (54-124)	76.2 (40-156)	< 0.001

¹Continuous data were compared by Student’s t test (two-sided) and categorical data were compared by Fisher’s exact test (two-sided).

Table 2 Serum vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12 and plasma homocysteine levels in patients with celiac disease (without and with regular vitamin supplements) and in healthy controls

Variable	Healthy controls (n = 50)	Patients with celiac disease not using vitamins (n = 26)	Patients with celiac disease using vitamins (n = 25)	P1
Median vitamin B6 (interquartile range), nmol/L	39.0 (30.2-54.2)	36.0 (21.0-77.2)	74.0 (28.0-183.5)	0.016
Median folate (interquartile range), nmol/L	9.7 (7.2-12.5)	12.1 (7.2-16.5)	29.9 (14.9-57.0)	< 0.001
Median vitamin B12 (interquartile range), pmol/L	234.5 (190.0-277.5)	230.5 (176.5-299.0)	342.0 (208.0-536.5)	0.017
Median homocysteine (interquartile range), &mgr;mol/L	9.7 (8.4-11.9)	11.0 (9.2-14.3)	7.1 (6.2-10.7)	0.001
Villous atrophy, n%		14 (54.0%)	12 (48.0%)	0.78

¹Continuous data were compared by Kruskall-Wallis test and categorical data were compared by Fisher’s exact test (two-sided).

Table 3 Serum vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12 and plasma homocysteine levels in patients with celiac disease without (Marsh 0-II) and with (Marsh III) villous atrophy

Variable	All patients with celiac disease (n = 51)			Patients with celiac disease not using vitamins (n = 26)			Patients with celiac disease using vitamins (n = 25)
	Marsh III (n = 26)	Marsh 0-II(n = 25)	Pvalue1	Marsh III(n = 14)	Marsh 0-II(n = 12)	Pvalue1	Marsh III (n = 12)	Marsh 0-II (n = 13)	Pvalue1
Median vitamin B6 (interquartile range), nmol/L	54.5	60.0	0.26	34.0	61.5	0.59	72.0	91.0	0.47
	20.7-99.7	33.0-170.5		20.7-71.2	23.5-96.5		17.2-165.0	45.0-238.0
Median folate (interquartile range), nmol/L	14.2	19.8	0.41	12.2	12.1	0.49	34.8	27.8	0.93
	7.2-33.9	11.5-28.9		6.2-16.1	7.7-19.1		11.7-75.4	18.6-36.1
Median vitamin B12 (interquartile range), pmol/L	263.0	278.0	0.45	229.0	254.5	0.52	455.5	317.0	0.04
	195.2-433.0	177.5-353.5		173.7-295.5	171.7-303.0		256.7-916.2	180.0-380.0
Median homocysteine (interquartile range), &mgr;mol/L	11.0	9.1	0.018	12.6	9.3	0.04	8.9	7.1	0.20
	8.1-16.1	6.7-10.7		10.5-17.4	9.1-13.4		6.1-13.2	6.1-8.8
Use of vitamin supplements, n%	12 (46.1%)	13 (52.0%)	0.782

¹Continuous data were compared by Kruskall-Wallis test;

²Vitamin use versus no vitamin use frequency was compared by Fisher’s exact test (two-sided).

Table 4 The independent association of homocysteine with vitamin B6, folate, the presence of celiac disease, and villous atrophy, analyzed by multiple regression analysis

	Standardized coefficients beta	Significance
Presence of celiac disease
Vitamin B6	-0.309	0.002
Folate	-0.366	0.000
Celiac disease	-0.194	0.053
Presence of villous atrophy
Vitamin B6	-0.307	0.013
Folate	-0.363	0.004
Villous atrophy	0.294	0.018

Dependent variable: Homocysteine.