Abstract
Background: Recent studies suggested a high prevalence of Vitamin B12 prescriptions; most lack evidence of Vitamin B12 deficiency. This research aims to estimate the prevalence of Vitamin B12 prescription without laboratory evidence of deficiency at King Khalid University Hospital, assess the physician characteristics associated with such B12 prescribing, and compare between gender and sub-specialty. Methods: A retrospective cohort study perfumed at King Khalid University Hospital using health system administrative databases (E-sihi system). All patients who received at least one prescription of oral Vitamin B12 between January 1st, 2021 to August 31st, 2022 were included. Results: A total of 19920 oral Vitamin B12 were prescribed to 10980 patients by 947 physicians. Most physicians were male, 61%. 57% are specialists. 10417 (94.8%) patients received oral Vitamin B12 prescriptions without laboratory evidence of deficiency. Type of practice and physician gender was not significantly related to inappropriate prescriptions. Medicine and emergency department are most likely to prescribe inappropriately, whereas family medicine is more likely to prescribe appropriately. Conclusion: As much as 94.8% of vitamin B12 prescriptions were written despite a lack of laboratory evidence of a deficiency, suggesting that such widespread use is unnecessary. In addition, the highest prescription rates were related to medicine and the emergency departments, whereas the lowest rates were linked to family medicine. Therefore, we suggest campaigns be launched to draw physicians' attention to such practice and its consequences and encourage them to examine the available evidence about Vitamin B12.