How Does B12 Deficiency of Mothers Affect Their Infants?

[Background]Vitamin B₁₂ cannot be synthesized in the body and it is essential for growth and development in humans.[Objectives]To evaluate the vitamin B₁₂ levels between the mothers and their infants who presented to the Pediatric Hematology outpatients department due to the symptoms of vitamin B₁₂ deficiency. We also compared the effects of low B₁₂ levels in both the mother and the child, compared to the effects of normal B₁₂ levels in the mother and low levels in the child.[Methods]We enrolled 303 children aged 2 - 18 months between January 2013 and September 2015. Patients with a vitamin B₁₂ level < 200 pg/mL in both the mother and the child and patients with a B₁₂ level that was low in the child and normal in the mother were compared.[Results]The birth weight of the children was low in the group where the B₁₂ level of both the mother and the child (n = 163) was low and presentation to the clinic with neurologic signs and symptoms such as tremor, restlessness, seizure, hypotonia, and macrocephaly not related to another etiologic reason was common (P < 0.05). A remarkable finding was the simultaneous low levels of vitamin B₁₂ in the mother in 55 of the 69 children who presented with neurological symptoms (P < 0.05). A generalized or focal epileptic pathology was found in the EEGs and MR images including retardation in myelination, demyelination, atrophic findings or ventricular dilatation in children whose mothers have B₁₂ deficiency simultaneously.[Conclusions]It is difficult to explain such complicated clinical pictures due to malnutrition especially in developing countries. Detecting and treating vitamin B₁₂ deficiency early in mother and child is very important in prevention of potential irreversible neurological problems.