SERUM HOMOCYSTEINE;

objective: To evaluate the serum homocysteine level in patients with hypertension at Liaquat University HospitalHyderabad. Patients and methods: This six months study was conducted at Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad. All the hypertensivepatients for ≥ 01 years duration, of ≥ 35 years of age and either gender visited at the cardiac logy OPD or admitted incardiac ward were registered and evaluated for their homocysteine level. The normal plasma homocysteine level isbetween 5 to <15 μmol/L. The results of plasma homocysteine level were interpreted as normal, moderate,intermediate and severe according to the reference range (moderate = 15 to 30 μmol/L; intermediate = 30 to 100μmol/L; severe = >100 μmol/L). The frequency and percentage was calculated for hyperhomocysteinemia in hypertensivepatients. The chi-square and independent t-test was applied between categorical variables at 95% confidence interval and the p-value ≤0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Total 120 hypertensive patients were registered for study. Of these 86(71.7%)were males and 34 (28.3%) were female. Regarding plasma homocysteine level, hyperhomocysteinemia was observed in 99(83%)hypertensive patients, of which 75(75.8%) were males and 24(24.2%) were females while the 21(17.5%) subjects hadnormohomocysteinemia [p=0.04]. According to the categorical classification of plasma homocysteine level, the moderate wasidentified in 58(48%), intermediate in 19 (16%) and severe in 22 (18%) [p = 0.04]. The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure inoverall population was 160 ± 26 and 90 ± 16 [p=0.02] respectively. The mean ± SD for plasma homocysteine level in overallpopulation was 72.83 ± 12.61 whereas the mean ±SD of patients with normal, moderate, intermediate and severe plasmahomocysteine level was 7.1 ± 1.8, 21±2.7, 60±12.4 and 116 ±7.3 respectively. Conclusion: It is observed that serum homocysteineappears to be raised in patients with hypertension. The hyperhomocysteinemia may be involved in the induction and sustaining of