Folate Deficiency in Chronic Liver Disease

Fifty-five patients with liver disease of varied etiology and severity have been studied. Serum folate concentrations were subnormal and folic acid clearances rapid, when studied, in 19 actively imbibing alcoholic cirrhotics who had a megaloblastic anemia. Eleven patients, from both the nonalcoholic and alcoholic groups, had rapid folic acid clearances, with subnormal serum folate levels in seven, in the absence of morphologic evidence of folate deficiency. Serum B₁₂ concentrations were uniformly normal or elevated.

Dietary deficiency appeared to be the major cause of folate deficiency; all 19 patients who had megaloblastic changes were considered to have an inadequate dietary intake. Increased requirement for folate due to hyperactivity of the bone marrow secondary to gastrointestinal bleeding. hypersplenism, or hemolysis appeared to contribute to the development of abnormal folic acid determinations in many patients in both the alcoholic and nonalcoholic groups. Two of 10 patients studied had malabsorption of folic acid. Such factors as the presence of ascites, an expanded plasma volume, a Patent portacaval shunting procedure, the type of alcoholic beverage imbibed, and the severity of impairment of liver function did not appear to be of significance in the development of folate deficiency.