The Association between Plasma Levels of Trimethylamine N-Oxide and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Chinese Patients with or without Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

AIM: Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) has been demonstrated as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Our objective was to determine the plasma levels of TMAO in Chinese coronary heart disease (CHD) patients with or without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: A total of 132 control participants, 243 CHD patients, and 175 CHD patients with T2DM were enrolled. Plasma levels of TMAO in all patients were measured and analyzed. RESULTS: The plasma levels of TMAO were significantly higher in CHD patients than in control subjects (3.08 ± 0.13 μM versus 1.49 ± 0.05 μM; P < 0.01). In addition, plasma levels of TMAO were remarkably increased in CHD patients with T2DM compared with CHD patients (7.63 ± 0.97 μM versus 3.08 ± 0.13 μM; P < 0.01). The receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that the area under the curve of TMAO was 0.794 and 0.927 to predict CHD or CHD-T2DM patients (P < 0.01). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that TMAO was an independent predictor in CHD patients with or without T2DM. The level of TMAO was correlated with high-sensitive troponin I (hs-TnI) and creatine kinase MB (CKMB). CONCLUSIONS: TMAO was an independent predictor of CHD in Chinese patients; moreover, the TMAO levels were highly associated with diabetes in CHD patients.