Key result
Higher homocysteine levels linked to ~97% greater odds of abnormal CIMT and carotid plaque.
Why the study?
Abnormal homocysteine levels have been associated with atherosclerosis in diabetes but have not been well studied in prediabetes with impaired fasting glucose.
Are higher blood homocysteine levels associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in individuals with impaired fasting glucose?
Observational (n=3,100)
Are higher blood homocysteine levels associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in individuals with impaired fasting glucose?
Higher blood homocysteine levels are significantly associated with subclinical atherosclerosis, as measured by abnormal CIMT and carotid plaque, in individuals with prediabetes.
Supports homocysteine-subclinical atherosclerosis link in impaired fasting glucose; hypothesis-generating and should not yet change practice.
This article is available from http://www.labmedonline.org 2013, Laboratory Medicine Online This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background: Prediabetes is the condition associated with the development of type 2 diabetes and a risk of cardiovascular disease. Abnormal homocysteine levels have been found to be associated with atherosclerosis in diabetes, but not well studied in pre-diabetes. In this study we investigated the relationship between blood homocysteine levels and subclinical atherosclerosis in the individuals with impaired fasting glucose. Method: Individuals with impaired fasting glucose with fasting blood glucose concentrations of 100-125 mg/dL (1,537 men and 1,563 women) were selected from 10,848 health examinees who underwent an ultrasonographic examination of carotid artery during health check-up over 20 yr. The subjects were divided into 4 quartile groups depending on homocysteine levels. We investigated the association of each homocysteine quartile with abnormal carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and carotid plaque by using logistic regression analysis. Results: Factors associated with abnormal CIMT and carotid plaque were age, homocysteine levels, blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose levels. Logistic regression analysis adjusted for gender and confounding factors showed that the thirdand fourthquartile homocysteine level groups had higher odds ratios ([OR ]-95% confidence interval [CI ])for abnormal CIMT (1.656 [1.11-2.47 ], P =0.013, 1.966 [1.32-2.93 ], P = 0.001, respectively) and for carotid plaque (1.608 [1.01-2.56 ], P =0.045, 1.913 [1.22-3.00 ], P =0.005, respectively) than did the first quartile group . Conclusion: Blood homocysteine levels showed a statistically significant correlation with subclinical atherosclerosis in individuals with impaired fasting glucose.
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Nah et al. (2013) conducted an observational in Impaired fasting glucose (n=3,100). Higher blood homocysteine levels vs. First quartile homocysteine level group was evaluated on Abnormal carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) (OR 1.966, 95% CI 1.32-2.93, p=0.001). Higher blood homocysteine levels (fourth vs first quartile) were significantly associated with abnormal carotid intima-media thickness (OR 1.966; 95% CI 1.32-2.93; P=0.001) and carotid plaque.
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