This review summarizes the basic pathophysiology of vitamin B12 and folate deficiency and neuropsychiatric symptoms. - GreenMedInfo Summary

Vitamin deficiency is one of the major causes of treatable dementia. Specifically, patients suffering from dementia frequentry display low serum levels of vitamin B₁₂. There is a close metabolic interaction between folate and vitamin B₁₂. Folate deficiency causes various neuropsychiatric symptoms, which resemble those observed in vitamin B₁₂deficiency. This review summarizes, the basic pathophysiology of vitamin B₁₂and folate deficiency, its clinical diagnosis, associated neuropsychiatric symptoms such as subacute combined degeneration and dementia, and epidemiological studies of cognitive decline and brain atrophy.