Anemia, hematinic deficiencies, and hyperhomocysteinemia in gastric parietal cell antibody-positive and -negative burning mouth syndrome patients.

Background/Purpose Our previous study found the serum gastric parietal cell antibody (GPCA) positivity in 12.3% of burning mouth syndrome (BMS) patients. This study assessed whether GPCA-positive BMS (GPCA+BMS) patients had significantly higher frequencies of macrocytosis, anemia, hematinic deficiencies, and hyperhomocysteinemia than healthy control subjects or GPCA-negative BMS (GPCA−BMS) patients. Methods The mean corpuscular volume, blood hemoglobin (Hb), and serum iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, homocysteine, and GPCA levels were measured and compared between any two of three groups of 109 GPCA+BMS patients, 775 GPCA−BMS patients, and 442 healthy control subjects. Results We found that 109 GPCA+BMS patients had significantly higher frequencies of macrocytosis, blood Hb and serum iron and vitamin B12 deficiencies, and hyperhomocysteinemia than 442 healthy control subjects (all P-values  Conclusion GPCA+BMS patients have significantly higher frequencies of macrocytosis, blood Hb and serum vitamin B12 deficiencies, and hyperhomocysteinemia than healthy control subjects or GPCA−BMS patients.