TY - JOUR T1 - Vitamin B<sub>12</sub> (cobalamin) deficiency in elderly patients JF - Canadian Medical Association Journal JO - CMAJ SP - 251 LP - 259 DO - 10.1503/cmaj.1031155 VL - 171 IS - 3 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 Y1 - 2004/08/03 UR - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/171/3/251.abstract N2 - 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. ER -