Homocysteine and cognitive impairment; a case series in a General Practice setting
BACKGROUND: An elevated blood level of homocysteine is a risk factor for cognitive impairment and dementia. Homocysteine can be lowered by folate and/or vitamin B(12 )supplementation; antioxidants might also be required for optimal reduction in neurovascular tissue. This report presents clinical and...
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2006
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1395322/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16480506 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-5-6 |
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author | McCaddon, Andrew |
author_facet | McCaddon, Andrew |
author_sort | McCaddon, Andrew |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: An elevated blood level of homocysteine is a risk factor for cognitive impairment and dementia. Homocysteine can be lowered by folate and/or vitamin B(12 )supplementation; antioxidants might also be required for optimal reduction in neurovascular tissue. This report presents clinical and radiological findings from administering the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine together with B vitamins to cognitively impaired patients with hyperhomocysteinaemia. METHODS: A case series (n = 7) performed in a semi-rural General Practice setting. Formal cognitive assessments were performed in five patients, and radiological assessments in one patient, before and after supplementation. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The addition of N-acetylcysteine resulted in subjective clinical improvement in all patients, and an objective improvement in cognitive scores in five patients. One patient had radiological evidence of halted disease progression over a twelve month period. CONCLUSION: N-acetylcysteine, together with B vitamin supplements, improves cognitive status in hyperhomocysteinaemic patients. Randomized controlled clinical trials are required to formally evaluate this treatment approach. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-1395322 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2006 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-13953222006-03-09 Homocysteine and cognitive impairment; a case series in a General Practice setting McCaddon, Andrew Nutr J Case Report BACKGROUND: An elevated blood level of homocysteine is a risk factor for cognitive impairment and dementia. Homocysteine can be lowered by folate and/or vitamin B(12 )supplementation; antioxidants might also be required for optimal reduction in neurovascular tissue. This report presents clinical and radiological findings from administering the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine together with B vitamins to cognitively impaired patients with hyperhomocysteinaemia. METHODS: A case series (n = 7) performed in a semi-rural General Practice setting. Formal cognitive assessments were performed in five patients, and radiological assessments in one patient, before and after supplementation. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The addition of N-acetylcysteine resulted in subjective clinical improvement in all patients, and an objective improvement in cognitive scores in five patients. One patient had radiological evidence of halted disease progression over a twelve month period. CONCLUSION: N-acetylcysteine, together with B vitamin supplements, improves cognitive status in hyperhomocysteinaemic patients. Randomized controlled clinical trials are required to formally evaluate this treatment approach. BioMed Central 2006-02-15 /pmc/articles/PMC1395322/ /pubmed/16480506 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-5-6 Text en Copyright © 2006 McCaddon; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Case Report McCaddon, Andrew Homocysteine and cognitive impairment; a case series in a General Practice setting |
title | Homocysteine and cognitive impairment; a case series in a General Practice setting |
title_full | Homocysteine and cognitive impairment; a case series in a General Practice setting |
title_fullStr | Homocysteine and cognitive impairment; a case series in a General Practice setting |
title_full_unstemmed | Homocysteine and cognitive impairment; a case series in a General Practice setting |
title_short | Homocysteine and cognitive impairment; a case series in a General Practice setting |
title_sort | homocysteine and cognitive impairment; a case series in a general practice setting |
topic | Case Report |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1395322/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16480506 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-5-6 |
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