FOLATE AND VITAMIN-B-12 IN DEPRESSIVE INPATIENTS - A STUDY OF FREQUENCY OF SERUM FOLATE VALUES BY RIA IN 121 DEPRESSIVE INPATIENTS

According to the newer literature on folate deficiencies in depressive patients serum folate and vitamin B-12 levels were studied (RIA) in 121 consecutively admitted depressive inpatients (47 male, 74 femal depressives; age 17-86 years, mean age 48 years, diagnostic by ICD-9 300.4, 296.1) during the first (1-3) days of admission (normal volumes folate 3 -17 ng/ml, vitamin B-12 200-900 pg/ml). Only in two patients serum folate below 3 ng/ml were found, low vitamin B-12 levels (below 200 pg/ml) showed 14 patients. This result is in contrast to other authors who found folate deficiencies in 10-50% of psychiatric patients.