Vitamin levels of homeless patients who visit emergency department after alcohol ingestion = Vitamin levels of homeless patients who visit emergency department after alcohol ingestion

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Backgrounds: Vitamins are essential micronutrient and depletions are reported for chronic illness. It is well known that the general nutrition status of the homeless is poor, especially with heavy alcohol drinking. We want evaluate the vitamin levels of homeless patients. Methods: This study is done at single urban teaching hospital emergency department. We did retrospective review of vitamin B1, B12, B6 and C levels. Vitamin levels are drawn if the patient is alcohol drunken, need IV hydration and has cachexic feature. Results: During study periods, vitamin levels were checked for 107 patients. Vitamin C levels were 15.8±1.3 mg/L. For 84 patients, levels of vitamin C were decreased. In vitamin B1(152±7.2 nmol/L), B12(725.5±35.4 pg/mL), and B6(50.3±5.5 ng/mL), there were 3, 2 and 23 patients below reference ranges respectively. Conclusion: Level of vitamin C was markedly decreased. Replacement of vitamin C should be considered for the homeless who visit emergency department.