TY - JOUR TI - Folate and vitamin B12 levels in levodopa-treated Parkinson's disease patients: Their relationship to clinical manifestations, mood and cognition AU - Triantafyllou, Nikolaos I. AU - Nikolaou, Chrysoula AU - Boufidou, Fotini AU - and Angelopoulos, Elias AU - Rentzos, Michael AU - Kararizou, Evangelia AU - and Evangelopoulos, Maria-Eleftheria AU - Vassilpoulos, Dimitrios JO - Parkinsonism and Related Disorders PY - 2008 VL - 14 TODO - 4 SP - 321-325 PB - Elsevier Sci Ltd, Exeter, United Kingdom SN - 1353-8020 TODO - 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2007.10.002 TODO - vitamin B12; brain lateralization; cognition; depression; folate; folic acid; Parkinson’s disease TODO - We tested the hypothesis that mood, clinical manifestations and cognitive impairment of levodopa-treated Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients are associated with vitamin B12 and folate deficiency. To this end, we performed this cross-sectional study by measuring serum folate and vitamin B 12 blood levels in 111 consecutive PD patients. Levodopa-treated PD patients showed significantly lower serum levels of folate and vitamin B12 than neurological controls, while depressed patients had significantly lower serum folate levels as compared to non-depressed. Cognitively impaired PD patients exhibited significantly lower serum vitamin B12 levels as compared to cognitively non-impaired. In conclusion, lower folate levels were associated with depression, while lower vitamin B12 levels were associated with cognitive impairment. The effects of vitamin supplementation merit further attention and investigation. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ER -