Association of homocysteine with traditional and non-traditional risk factors in patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease

Abstract

Aim To assess the association between total homocysteine (tHcy) and traditional and nontraditional risk factors in patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease (ASVD). Methods This cross-sectional study included 99 ASVD patients and 40 control subjects in whom we determined lipid proile, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), uric acid (UA) and tHcy. Results The median tHcy concentration was signiicantly higher in ASVD group compared to the controls ((18.7(13.65-24.45) vs. 11.48(10.03-14.2) µmol/L (p<0.001)). Mean serum cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (LDLc) and atherogenic index were signiicantly lower, while mean serum UA concentration was signiicantly higher in hyperhomocysteinemic compared to normohomocysteinemic ASVD patients and control subjects. In hyperhomocysteinemic ASVD patients a signiicant negative correlation between serum logtHcy and cholesterol (r= -0.32), LDLc (r= -0.24), very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDLc) (r=- 0.295) and atherogenic index (r= -0.25) was observed. In normohomocysteinemic ASVD patients serum logtHcy was signiicantly positively correlated with UA (r=0.46) and hsCRP (r=0.383). Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that serum logtHcy was independently positively associated only with UA in normohomocysteinemic ASVD patients. Conclusion The results of our study have shown that the association between tHcy and traditional and non-traditional risk factors depends on tHcy serum level. It was observed a negative association between serum tHcy and lipids in hyperhomocysteinemic ASVD patients. On the other hand, in ASVD patients with serum tHcy levels within the reference range a positive independent association between serum tHcy and UA might relect an underlying elevated tension of redox stress.

Keywords

• atherosclerotic vascular disease
• homocysteine
• risk factors