Plasma homocysteine-a marker of vascular disease in elderly patients with mental illness.

Summary, in English

BACKGROUND: Total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) concentration is elevated in elderly patients with mental illness, and patients with vascular disease have higher plasma tHcy concentration than patients without vascular disease. METHOD: We investigated the influence of cobalamin/folate status and renal function on the association between plasma tHcy levels and vascular disease. RESULTS: There was a similar degree of significant difference in plasma tHcy levels between patients with and without vascular disease in all enrolled patients and in a group of patients where all those with signs of cobalamin/folate deficiency and/or impaired renal function had been excluded. Furthermore, logistic regression analysis showed that the age-adjusted plasma tHcy was the main predictor of vascular disease in both groups of patients. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the presence of vascular disease itself is associated with elevated levels of plasma tHcy. Plasma tHcy might be a marker of vascular disease in elderly patients with mental illness.

• Author: Karin Nilsson; Lars Gustafson; Björn Hultberg
• Department/s: Psychiatry (Lund); Division of Clinical Chemistry and Pharmacology; MultiPark: Multidisciplinary research focused on Parkinson´s disease
• Publishing year: 2010
• Language: English
• Pages: 1056-1059
• Publication/Series: Clinical Biochemistry
• Volume: 43
• Links: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20362566?dopt=Abstract; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2010.03.013
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Topic: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1873-2933