Effects of Vitamin B12 Deficiency on Ejaculation Time in Patients with Chronic Gastritis

Objective: Vitamin B12 deficiency is a common problem among chronic gastritis (CG) patients due to various factors. Vitamin B12 is involved in the regulation of the central nervous system and plays an active role in the synthesis of serotonin and catecholamines. This study aims to reveal the relationship between premature ejaculation (PE), which is a common sexual dysfunction in men, and B12 deficiency detected in patients with CG. Materials and Methods: A total of 155 patients enrolled in the study between May 2017 and December 2017 were evaluated in three groups; CG with and without B12 deficiency and healthy volunteers. The patients were assessed with intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (IELT) and the premature ejaculation diagnostic tool (PEDT) to evaluate PE. Depression status of the patients was evaluated by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Results: The mean age of the patients was 36.04 +/- 9.53 years. Patients in the CG with B12 deficiency group had statistically significantly shorter IELT times (137.12 +/- 93.58) and higher PEDT scores (11.96 +/- 4.66) (p<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between low levels of vitamin B12 and PE, and the cut-off value found in our study was 167.5 pg/mL. No significant differences were determined in BDI-II scores between the groups, however, patients with CG and B12 deficiency had higher scores. Conclusion: While the cause of vitamin B12 deficiency in CG patients is multifactorial, our study revealed a relationship between B12 deficiency and PE. Vitamin B12 deficiency was found to have significant relationship with IELT times and PEDT, while no significant association between vitamin B12 deficiency and depression was determined.