Study on the relation between hyperhomocysteinemia and coronary artery disease

Objective: To investigate the correlation between plasma homocysteine (Hcy) level and coronary heart disease (CHD) in the population in Xinjing, and to explore the clinical implication of fluctuations in plasma Hcy level of CHD patients, so as to make clear the involvement of Hcy in the pathogenesis of CHD. Methods: Using the cross sectional method, we collected coronary angiographic data of 110 patients admitted by the Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to their coronary angiographic results, with 74 cases in the coronary artery stenosis (CAS) group and 36 in the normal coronary artery (CAN) group. High performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection was used to assess the level of plasma Hcy in the patients. Results: (1) Plasma Hcy level in the CAS group (17.40±10.95 μmol/L) was significantly higher than the CAN group (11.78±4.56 μmol/L, P0.01). In the CAS group, 40.54% of the patients were found to have hyperhomocysteinemia, significantly higher than in the CAN group (13.89%, P 0.01) . The plasma Hcy level in the males of CAS group (18.23±11.48 μmol/L) was significantly higher than that in the CAN group (12.46±5.75 μmol/L, P0.01). However, the plasma Hcy level of the female of both groups was not statistically significant. In patients with lesions in 1,2 and 3 vessels, their Hcy level tended to increase, with the number of vessel to be involved. A significant discrepancy was found between Hcy levels in single and triple vessel groups. (2) Multivariatenon conditional logistic regressive analysis indicates that smoking history (OR=3.16), triglyceride level (OR=2.30) and Hcy level (OR=1.10) all were significantly related to OR value of CHD. Conclusion: There is a significant rise in the plasma Hcy level in the population with CHD in Xinjiang in which the incidence of hyperhomocysteinemia is much higher than the population without CHD. The effect of homocysteine is more obvious on male patients. Higher Hcy level is also associated with the increased number of coronary arteries with stenosis. That indicates that hyperhomocysteinemia can be an independent risky factor for coronary heart disease.