2009 Southern Regional Meeting Abstracts

Purpose of Study: That elevated of plasma homocysteine is adversely associated with atherothrombosis is well recognized. However, findings on the association between homocysteine and arterial wall stiffness, an indicator of vascular damage, are conflicting. The aim of this study was to determine the association between the homocysteine and arterial wall stiffness in a biracial (black-white) community-based cohort of asymptomatic young adults.
Methods Used: Plasma homocysteine along with other cardiovascular disease risk factor variables were measured in 735 white and 294 black subjects, aged 24-44 years, enrolled in the Bogalusa Heart Study. Large artery stiffness was assessed in terms of aorta-femoral pulse wave velocity (af-PWV) by echo-Doppler.
Summary of Results: Males vs females showed higher fasting homocysteine levels (8.85 vs 7.32 µmol/L, p<0.01); blacks vs whites had higher af-PWV (5.47 vs 5.24 m/sec, p<0.01). In bivariate analyses, log-transformed homocysteine was significantly correlated with af-PWV (r=0.111, p=0.0004). In multivariate stepwise regression analyses, systolic blood pressure (regression coefficient β=0.022, p<0.0001, R2=0.167), age (β=0.041, p<0.0001, R2=0.037), heart rate (β=0.011, p=0.0001, R2=0.014), log-homocysteine (β=0.262, p=0.0005, R2=0.0097), log-HOMA-IR (β=0.155, p<0.0001, R2=0.009) and smoking (β=0.189, p=0.0015, R2=0.008), in that order, were independently and positively associated with af-PWV. Further, the mean value of af-PWV significantly increased with increasing quartiles of homocysteine specific for race, sex, age and smoking (p for linear trend =0.038).
Conclusions: Plasma homocysteine is an independent correlate of arterial stiffness in asymptomatic black and white young adults, and may be a potential marker for cardiovascular disease risk in this age group.