Association Between Serum Homocysteine Concentration with Coronary Artery Disease in Iranian Patients

BACKGROUND: The role of novel biomarkers like homocystein as a risk factor of coronary artery disease (CAD) is being increasingly recognized. Since there is a marked geographical variation in plasma homocystein concentration and because of importance of hyperhomocysteinemia as a CAD risk factor and due to the paucity of studies in Iran evaluating this risk factor in our population, we evaluated the association between plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) concentration and CAD risk in Iranian population. METHODS: In a case-control study, we compared the level of tHcy of forty five patients of angiographically proven CAD with forty five subjects without CAD as control group matched for age and gender. The patients with diabetes, hypertension, thyroid dysfunction, chronic renal failure, hyperlipidemia and obesity and other conventional CAD risk factors were excluded from the study. Plasma tHcy was measured using immunoturbidimetry. The results were compared between groups using student t test. RESULTS: CAD patients had significantly higher mean plasma tHcy than control group (17.1±5.3 versus 14.2±3.8, P= 0.004). CONCLUSION: This study denoted that high plasma homocysteine concentration was associated to CAD risk in Iranian people.