J Korean Acad Fam Med.  2005 Nov;26(11):671-679.

Serum Homocysteine and Its Relevant Factors among Health Screeners in a University Hospital

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Family Medicine, Ajou University College of Medicine, Suwon, Korea. gaksi@ajou.ac.kr

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Elevated plasma total homocysteine is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The authors investigated the parameters such as habit, body index, cardiovascular risk factors, nutrition relative to the plasma homocysteine concentration.
METHODS
The subjects were 6,223 adults (3,377 males, 2,846 females) who were over 18 years of age and visited a health promotion center of a university hospital from March 2002 to January 2003. We assessed the relationship between the homocysteine level and the following parameters: sex, age, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, smoking, alcohol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), triglyceride, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, creatinine, albumin and hemoglobin.
RESULTS
The homocysteine levels was 10.5+/-5.9micromol/L in males, 7.3+/-2.6micromol/L in female. Thus it was significantly higher in males (P <0.001). After adjusting for variables that affect the homocysteine, the subjects over the age of 54 showed 10.7micromol/L (9.5, 12.0, 95% Confidence Interval), which was significantly (P=0.002) higher than the below the age of 38 groups 8.5micromol/L (7.8, 9.2, 95% CI). Non-smoking group showed 8.6micromol/L (8.4, 8.9, 95% CI), while over 28 pack-year group showed 9.6micromol/ L (9.2, 10.0, 95% CI), which was significantly (P <0.000) higher than the non-smoking groups. For the group with systolic BP over 132mmHg, it was 9.3micromol/L (8.8, 9.5, 95% CI). This was significantly (P=0.004) higher than 8.7micromol/L (8.4, 9.0, 95% CI) in the group whose systolic BP was less than 108 mmHg. The homocysteine was 10.4micromol/L (10.1, 11.7, 95% CI) for the group with creatinine over 1.0 mg/dL, which was significantly (P <0.000) higher than 7.9micromol/L (7.6, 8.2, 95% CI) in the group whose creatinine was less than 0.8 mg/dL.
CONCLUSION
After adjusting for variables that affect the homocysteine, significant difference in its values was found between males and females. The homocysteine was significantly increased in the group whose age, systolic BP, amount of smoking, and creatinine were higher.

Keyword

homocysteine; cardiovascular disease; sex; age; smoking; systolic blood pressure; creatinine

MeSH Terms

Adult
Blood Pressure
Body Weight
Cardiovascular Diseases
Cholesterol
Cholesterol, HDL
Creatinine
Female
Health Promotion
Homocysteine*
Humans
Male
Plasma
Risk Factors
Smoke
Smoking
Triglycerides
Waist Circumference
Cholesterol
Cholesterol, HDL
Creatinine
Homocysteine
Smoke
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