Efectividad de la administración oral versus intramuscular de vitamina B12 en pacientes con deficiencia: Revisión sistemática

Abstract

Vitamin B12 or cobalamin deficiency is a very common condition and is one of the most important causes of anemia. It can be treated with oral or intramuscular treatment. A summary of the evidence will be made through a systematic review of randomized clinical trials that have compared both treatments for the management of these patients. The objective of this review was to determine whether there is scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of oral versus intramuscular vitamin B12 treatment of its deficiency. The search strategy included randomized clinical trials (RCTs); databases used were: Medline, Cochrane Central, Lilacs and CINAHL. Also an electronic search in Google Scholar was performed. The results were three articles that met our eligibility criteria. We conclude that there is moderate evidence that the administration of oral vitamin B12 is most effective in the medium term increment serum cobalamin volume in patients with vitamin B12 deficiency.