Assessing Diagnostic Accuracy of Serum Holotranscobalamin (Active-B12) in Comparison with Other Markers of Vitamin B12 Deficiency

About 15–40% India is Vitamin B12 deficient (commonly diagnosed by total Vitamin B12) but, as only holoTC (active form) is taken up by body cells, thus measuring holoTC is more reflective of Vitamin B12 status than the former. We aimed to assess diagnostic accuracy of serum holoTC in comparison with total Vitamin B12 and total Homocysteine (HCY) as indicator of serum Vitamin B12 status. 217 human subjects (99 males and 118 females) ranging from 17 to 83 years were divided into Vitamin B12 deficient (n = 70), borderline (n = 100) and sufficient groups (n = 47) who were further assessed for markers of Vitamin B12 deficiency—holoTC, HCY, Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Folate, heamoglobin and creatinine. Samples were analysed using Siemens Advia Centaur Xpi. Total Vitamin B12 deficient group had − 84.3% holoTC deficient; 15.7% holoTC sufficient; 72.9% with elevated HCY; 27.1% with normal HCY; 11.4% with megaloblastic anaemia. Borderline group had − 34% holoTC deficient; 28% elevated HCY. A strong positive correlation was found between Total Vitamin B12 and holoTC (r = 0.754, p =