Plasma homocysteine and the extent of atherosclerosis in patients with coronary artery disease

Homocysteine is a graded risk factor for the incidence of stroke and for the degree of carotid atherosclerosis. Homocysteine is also a graded risk factor for the incidence of myocardial infarction but we do not know its precise relations to the severity of atherosclerosis in coronary patients. Seventy five symptomatic coronary patients were recruited for the study. Fifty of these patients had coronary artery disease only and were compared in a case-control manner to 50 healthy controls matched for age and sex. The 25 other coronary patients had also symptoms in another atherosclerotic territory (cerebral, peripheral or both) and were also compared to 25 matched controls. Mean plasma homocysteine level was significantly higher in coronary patients than in controls (11.7±0.7μmol l−1, n=50 versus 9.9±0.5μmol l−1, n=50, p<0.05). Homocysteine in patients with symptomatic atherosclerosis in two or three arterial sites was 15.7±1.5μmol l−1 which differed significantly from matched controls and from patients with coronary artery disease only (p=0.01). The extent of coronary atherosclerosis evaluated by an angiographic coronary score correlated weakly to plasma homocysteine levels (r=0.25, p<0.05). The patients with both hypertension and high levels of homocysteine (>11.3μmol l−1, median value) had more severe coronary atherosclerosis (coronary score of 16.3±2.3 versus 11.9±0.9, p<0.05) and more diffuse atherosclerosis (number of atherosclerotic territories of 1.5±0.2 versus 1.2±0.7, p=0.08) than the coronary patients without this association. There were no other high risk association when considering the other classical risk factors. Thus, the highest levels of homocysteine were present in patients with coronary disease and another symptomatic localisation of atherosclerosis. A small gradient in the extent of coronary atherosclerosis was found with increasing levels of homocysteine. The presence of both hypertension and hyperhomocysteinemia was associated with more severe coronary atherosclerosis.