Use of Serum Homocysteine to Predict Cardiovascular Disease in Korean Men with or without Metabolic Syndrome Full Text
Journal of Korean Medical Science, 05/04/2012

Kang JY et al. – The results of this study show that the presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) needs to be considered when using homocysteine (Hcy) levels for predicting cardiovascular disease (CVD).

• The authors conducted a case–control study, including 138 CVD and 290 non–CVD age–matched control subjects.
• The subjects were divided into four subgroups: 34 CVD/MetS, 104 CVD, 77 MetS, and 213 normal subgroups.

• The mean Hcy was significantly higher, whereas HDL and intake of vitamin B1 and B2 were lower in the CVD group (P < 0.05) than non–CVD group.
• When compared to the control group, subjects with CVD/MetS, CVD and MetS exhibited high Hcy levels, with the highest observed in the CVD/MetS subgroup (P < 0.001).
• Multivariate stepwise linear regression between CVD and markers of CVD showed Hcy significantly correlated with CVD (P < 0.05).
• To predict CVD based on Hcy, Hcy threshold of 11.72 µM in non–MetS subjects had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.664 (95% CI 0.598–0.731).
• In MetS subjects, the AUC was 0.618 and Hcy threshold was 13.32 µM (95% CI 0.509–0.726).