PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Emmanuel Andrès AU - Noureddine Henoun Loukili AU - Esther Noel AU - Georges Kaltenbach AU - Maher Ben Abdelgheni AU - Anne Elisabeth Perrin AU - Marie Noblet-Dick AU - Frédéric Maloisel AU - Jean-Louis Schlienger AU - Jean-Frédéric Blicklé TI - Vitamin B<sub>12</sub> (cobalamin) deficiency in elderly patients AID - 10.1503/cmaj.1031155 DP - 2004 Aug 03 TA - Canadian Medical Association Journal PG - 251--259 VI - 171 IP - 3 4099 - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/171/3/251.short 4100 - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/171/3/251.full SO - CMAJ2004 Aug 03; 171 AB - VITAMIN B12 OR COBALAMIN DEFICIENCY occurs frequently (&gt; 20%) among elderly people, but it is often unrecognized because the clinical manifestations are subtle; they are also potentially serious, particularly from a neuropsychiatric and hematological perspective. Causes of the deficiency include, most frequently, food-cobalamin malabsorption syndrome (&gt; 60% of all cases), pernicious anemia (15%–20% of all cases), insufficent dietary intake and malabsorption. Food-cobalamin malabsorption, which has only recently been identified as a significant cause of cobalamin deficiency among elderly people, is characterized by the inability to release cobalamin from food or a deficiency of intestinal cobalamin transport proteins or both. We review the epidemiology and causes of cobalamin deficiency in elderly people, with an emphasis on food-cobalamin malabsorption syndrome. We also review diagnostic and management strategies for cobalamin deficiency.