© 1996 American Heart Association, Inc.
Articles |
Plasma Homocysteine and Severity of Atherosclerosis in Young Patients With Lower-Limb Atherosclerotic Disease
From the Institute for Cardiovascular Research, Department of Vascular Surgery (M. van den B., E.B., J.A.R.), and Department of Internal Medicine (C.D.A.S.) of the Free University Hospital, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
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Abstract |
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Abstract Elevated plasma homocysteine levels are recognized as an independent risk factor for atherosclerotic disease. It is not known (1) whether the severity of atherosclerotic disease is related to hyperhomocyst(e)inemia or (2) whether any such relation differs between fasting and post–methionine loading plasma homocysteine levels. Therefore, in 171 consecutive patients under 55 years of age with first symptoms of lower-limb disease, we examined the relation between severity of atherosclerosis and plasma homocysteine concentration. Severity of atherosclerotic disease was estimated from the prevalence of coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular disease and from the angiographic extent of lower-limb disease. Plasma homocysteine was measured after a period of fasting and in response to methionine loading (0.1 g/kg). In multivariate analysis, the prevalence of coronary artery disease plus cerebrovascular disease was related to both fasting and postmethionine homocysteine levels (odds ratio [OR] for the upper quartile versus the lower three quartiles, 2.8, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1 to 7.5; and OR 3.0, 95% CI, 1.1 to 7.8, respectively). The extent of lower-limb disease was weakly related to the fasting homocysteine level (partial correlation coefficient, .12; P=.17) and more strongly related to the postmethionine homocysteine level (partial correlation coefficient, .25; P=.003). These relations tended to be more pronounced in women than in men. They were independent of age, total serum cholesterol, blood pressure, and smoking habit. We concluded that the severity of atherosclerotic disease in young patients with lower-limb atherosclerotic disease is associated with high postmethionine and fasting homocysteine concentrations.
Key Words: homocysteine • severity • atherosclerosis • gender • methionine
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Introduction |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethods Results Discussion References |
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Lower-limb atherosclerotic disease is a common finding among the elderly. The prevalence of lower-limb atherosclerotic disease among men and women over 60 years of age varies between 7% and 14.4% or 3% and 14.1%, respectively, when the Rose questionnaire for intermittent claudication is used and between 16% and 35% in men and 13% and 28% in women when the ankle-brachial blood pressure index is used.1 Even among young people, however, the prevalence of lower-limb atherosclerotic disease is not negligible. Studies in persons 60 years old or younger indicate a prevalence of intermittent claudication of 0.4% to 5.8% in men and 0.7% to 1.8% in women.1 Use of the ankle-brachial blood pressure index again yields higher estimates, both in men (4.2% to 16%) and in women (5.4% to 13%).1
Follow-up of patients with lower-limb atherosclerotic disease2 3 shows a fourfold to sixfold increased risk of death as a result of cardiovascular disease, which cannot be fully explained by traditional risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, diabetes, and male sex.2 3 4 This suggests that in patients with lower-limb atherosclerotic disease, other risk factors affect the severity of atherosclerosis, which, moreover, is known to vary considerably both in the legs and in the coronary and cerebral vasculature.5
Hyperhomocyst(e)inemia has been shown to be an independent risk factor for atherosclerotic disease. This association is not limited to severe hyperhomocyst(e)inemia6 ; it is also observed when homocysteine levels are moderately elevated.7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Studies in vitro and in animals show that excess homocysteine may promote atherogenesis by inducing endothelial cell injury14 15 and vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation.16
It is not known whether hyperhomocyst(e)inemia modulates the severity of atherosclerosis in patients with lower-limb atherosclerotic disease. We chose to investigate this question in young patients with lower-limb atherosclerotic disease because hyperhomocyst(e)inemia after oral methionine loading is known to be prevalent among such patients.7 9 Severity of atherosclerotic disease was estimated from angiography of the legs and history of coronary and cerebrovascular events. Plasma homocysteine concentration was measured both in the fasting state and after a methionine load (which stimulates homocysteine synthesis) because it is unclear which is the better predictor of vascular disease.
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Methods |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethods Results Discussion References |
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Patients
We studied 185 consecutive white patients under the age of 55 years who had been referred to the Department of Vascular Surgery at the Free University Hospital in Amsterdam between April 1991 and May 1994 because of first symptoms of lower-limb atherosclerotic disease. Patients with renal (serum creatinine >120 µmol/L) or liver dysfunction (abnormal serum aminotransferase concentrations and/or presence of physical signs) were excluded from the study (n=14). Thus, 171 patients were included. Lower-limb atherosclerotic disease was defined as an ankle-brachial blood pressure index <0.9.1 4 17 In view of their age, all patients underwent a methionine-loading test and angiography of the legs as part of their clinical workup. All patients gave informed consent for these studies, which were approved by the local ethics committee. All studies were performed on referral except in 2 patients in whom methionine loading was performed at the age of 56 and 57 years, respectively.
Severity of Vascular Disease
Extent of Lower-Limb
Atherosclerotic Disease
Angiography was performed by use of the
transfemoral Seldinger
technique; results were examined by vascular surgeons or radiologists.
The percent diameter reduction (stenosis) was determined by
comparing the narrowest segment of the appropriate artery with the
closest adjacent apparently normal segment of the same artery. The
degree of anatomical obstruction was graded as 0% to 19%, 20% to
49%, 50% to 99%, or total occlusion and was assigned a score of 0,
1, 2, or 3, respectively. Estimates of disease extent were then
obtained (1) by classifying patients as having either single-level
(
20% obstruction confined to the aortoiliac, femoropopliteal, or
infrapopliteal level on one or both sides) or multilevel
disease5 and (2) by calculating the "total run-off
resistance,"18 a composite score that takes into
account both the degree of anatomical obstruction ("a," graded 0
to 3 as above) and the relative contribution to outflow ("b,"
graded 1 to 3 with increasing contribution to outflow) of each of the
29 angiographically defined vessel segments (aorta and both
legs).18 The score per segment is calculated as axb. The
total score was calculated as the sum score of all segments. In
contrast to estimates of disease extent such as the ankle-brachial
blood pressure index or the presence of multilevel disease, total
runoff resistance considers all relevant vessels in both legs and
therefore is thought to give a better estimate of the overall extent of
disease.18
Additional Coronary and
Cerebrovascular
Disease
Coronary artery disease was defined as a history of
myocardial infarction or angina pectoris; cerebrovascular disease was
defined as a history of ischemic stroke or transient
ischemic attack (World Health Organization clinical
definitions). These diagnoses were accepted only when corroborated by a
written report by a physician; in addition, diagnoses of myocardial
infarction and ischemic stroke required confirmation by new Q
waves on electrocardiography and/or
diagnostic enzyme changes or by computed tomography,
respectively.
Methionine-Loading Test
The total (free plus protein-bound)
homocysteine plasma
concentration was measured in the fasting state and 6 hours after an
oral methionine load (0.1 g/kg body weight) as previously described in
detail.19 20 Samples were stored at -30°C
and
assayed within 1 week of blood sampling. The intra-assay and
interassay coefficients of variation for total homocysteine were 2.1%
and 5.1%, respectively.
Other Clinical and Laboratory Data
On referral, we recorded
age, body weight, menopausal status
(postmenopause was defined as absence of menstrual bleeds for >1
year), current smoking habit (yes or no), the presence of diabetes
mellitus (WHO criteria), and blood pressure (measured after 15 minutes
of supine rest without altering antihypertensive regimens).
Hypertension was defined as diastolic blood pressure >90
mm Hg and/or systolic blood pressure >140 mm Hg and/or
antihypertensive drugs having been prescribed for the subject. In
addition, we measured fasting serum total cholesterol
(enzymatically), glucose (glucose oxidase method), and
creatinine (modified Jaffé reaction). In case of an
abnormal postmethionine homocysteine concentration (>97.5% of
previously proposed normal values20 ), we also assessed in
fasting serum samples the concentrations of vitamin B6 (by
fluorescent high-pressure liquid
chromatography; normal, >17 nmol/L), vitamin
B12 (radioassay, Becton Dickinson; normal, >80 pmol/L),
and folic acid (radioassay, Becton Dickinson; normal, >3.4 nmol/L).
Data collection and assessment of the severity of vascular disease were
"blinded" to results of plasma homocysteine measurements.
Statistical Methods
Descriptive data are given as
mean±SD or median (range) and,
when appropriate, compared with use of standard parametric or
nonparametric tests. Univariate logistic and
linear regression were used to examine whether estimates of the
severity of atherosclerosis (prevalence of
coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, and
multilevel peripheral disease and the total runoff
resistance score as dependent variables) were related to the
fasting and postmethionine plasma homocysteine concentration or to
other cardiovascular risk factors (age, sex, smoking
habit, serum cholesterol, presence of diabetes mellitus,
blood pressure [as a continuous variable or as presence versus
absence of hypertension], and serum creatinine
concentration as independent variables). We then repeated the
analysis, using multivariate regression, to
examine whether relations between the various estimates of severity of
atherosclerosis and plasma homocysteine concentrations
were modulated by the other cardiovascular risk
factors.
There were five patients who had had both a myocardial infarction and a stroke. In the analyses that considered all cardiovascular events, we included only the first event; in the separate analyses of cardiac and cerebral disease, we included all events in these five patients (ie, 10 events).
All odds ratios (OR) are given with their 95% confidence interval (CI) in parentheses and contrast the odds in the upper quartile of the distribution (Q4) of the homocysteine concentration with the lower three quartiles (Q1 through Q3) or the odds per unit change of the other cardiovascular risk factors (eg, per 1 year of age and per 1 mmol/L of serum cholesterol).
In addition, the influence of homocysteine concentrations on severity of vascular disease was studied (1) as a continuous variable and (2) by comparing patients with elevated concentrations (>97.5% of previously proposed sex-specific normal values20 ) to those with normal homocysteine concentrations. A value of P<.05 was considered significant. All testing was two-sided.
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Results |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethods Results Discussion References |
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Table 1
shows clinical and laboratory
characteristics of the patients. The combined prevalence of cardiac
plus cerebrovascular disease was 37 (21.6%) of the 171 patients.
Prevalence of coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular
disease, respectively, was 18 (19.8%) and 5 (5.5%) of 91 men and 12
(15.0%) and 7 (8.8%) of 80 women (P=.39 and
P=.41, respectively).
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Median fasting homocysteine levels were higher in men than in women
(difference, 1.5 µmol/L; P=.05). Postmethionine levels
were higher in women than in men (difference, 2.8 µmol/L;
P=.06). We therefore report sex-specific strata of
homocysteine levels. Tables 2 and 3 show
clinical and laboratory characteristics according to quartiles of
fasting and postmethionine homocysteine levels, respectively. In both
men and women, higher homocysteine levels (men, fasting; women, both
fasting and postmethionine) were associated with the presence of
hypertension and with higher serum creatinine
concentrations. Twenty-six (63%) of 41 patients in the upper
quartile of fasting homocysteine levels were also in the upper quartile
of postmethionine homocysteine levels. Conversely, 26 (62%) of 42
patients in the upper quartile of postmethionine homocysteine levels
were also in the upper quartile of fasting homocysteine levels.
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Coronary Artery and Cerebrovascular Disease and Plasma
Homocysteine Concentration
Fig 1 shows that the
combined prevalence of
coronary artery disease plus cerebrovascular disease was
significantly increased in the fourth quartile of both fasting
(univariate OR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.3 to 6.2), and
postmethionine homocysteine concentrations (OR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.5 to
6.9; Table 4). Adjustments for other
cardiovascular risk factors did not alter these results
significantly (OR, 2.8 and 3.0; Table 4), nor did the exclusion
of
angina and transient ischemic attack from the analysis
(ie, limiting the analysis to myocardial infarction and stroke)
(univariate OR 2.8; 95% CI, 1.2 to 6.8 for fasting
homocysteine; OR 3.3 and 95% CI, 1.4 to 7.8 for postmethionine
homocysteine).
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Table 4
shows that these associations
were strongest for postmethionine
homocysteine levels in women (adjusted OR, 25.2 versus 1.4 in men;
P<.05). Further analysis indicated that the
associations were most pronounced in postmenopausal women (adjusted OR,
14.8; 95% CI, 1.1 to 131 for fasting homocysteine; OR 36.0 and
95% CI, 2.8 to 471 for postmethionine homocysteine).
Analyses of
coronary artery and cerebrovascular disease
separately (Table 4 and Fig 2) showed similar
results in
that the prevalence of coronary artery disease and
cerebrovascular disease was increased in the fourth quartile of both
fasting and postmethionine concentrations. These associations tended to
be stronger for women than for men, and in women, stronger for
postmethionine than for fasting homocysteine levels. The presence of
coronary artery disease was also associated with age
(univariate OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.2) and serum
cholesterol (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1 to 1.9). In
multivariate analysis, only the association
with age remained (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1 to 1.3). In contrast,
prevalence of cerebrovascular disease was associated with the presence
of hypertension (univariate OR, 6.8; 95% CI, 1.9 to 24.0),
diastolic blood pressure (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.2),
and serum creatinine (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.0 to 1.05). In
multivariate analysis, only the association
with diastolic blood pressure remained (OR, 1.1; 95% CI,
1.03 to 1.2).
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It must be emphasized that these subgroup analyses of coronary artery and cerebrovascular disease concern small groups and therefore yield wide confidence intervals of the risk estimates. Thus, the differences between men and women or between fasting and postmethionine homocysteine were not statistically significant.
Lower-Limb Atherosclerotic Disease and Plasma Homocysteine
Concentration
On angiography, 57 (63%) of 91 men and 41 (51%) of 80
women had
abnormalities in both legs. Multilevel disease was present in 36
men (40%) and in 25 women (31%) and was present in both legs in 9
(25%) of these men and in 7 (28%) of these women.
The prevalence of
multilevel disease was significantly increased in the
upper quartile of fasting homocysteine levels (adjusted OR, 4.0). The
total runoff resistance score was significantly associated with
postmethionine homocysteine levels (partial correlation coefficient,
.25; P=.003; Table 4).
The association
with multilevel disease was most pronounced for fasting
homocysteine levels in men (adjusted OR, 7.2; P<.05 versus
fasting homocysteine levels in women and versus postmethionine
homocysteine levels in men; Table 4), whereas the total runoff
resistance score was more strongly associated with postmethionine
homocysteine levels in women (partial correlation coefficient, .52;
P=.0001). It is likely that the OR for multilevel disease
and postmethionine homocysteine level in women is underestimated,
because 5 (56%) of 9 women in the upper quartile of postload
homocysteine had multilevel disease in both legs. Additional
analysis showed that the presence of multilevel disease was
associated with the presence of hypertension (univariate
OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.4 to 5.9) and with systolic blood pressure
(OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.004 to 1.04). In multivariate
analysis, association with the presence of hypertension
remained significant (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.3 to 5.2). Similarly, the
total runoff resistance score was associated with the presence of
hypertension (r=.26; P=.001) and with
systolic blood pressure (r=.19; P=.02).
In multivariate analysis, the association with
systolic blood pressure remained significant
(P=.008).
Other Estimates of Hyperhomocyst(e)inemia
Analyses that
considered homocysteine concentration as a
continuous variable or as "elevated" versus "normal"
yielded similar results (data not shown). By the latter criterion, 42
patients had an abnormal postmethionine concentration and 29 patients
had an abnormal fasting level.
Serum Vitamin Concentrations and Plasma Homocysteine
The
serum concentrations of folic acid and of vitamins
B6 and B12 were measured in all patients
with postmethionine homocysteine levels >97.5% of previously proposed
normal values20 (n=42); these serum concentrations were
within their respective normal ranges. In this group, plasma vitamin
levels were not significantly related to postmethionine or fasting
homocysteine concentrations.
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Discussion |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethods Results Discussion References |
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The main finding in the present study is that the severity of atherosclerosis in young patients with lower-limb atherosclerotic disease is related to homocysteine concentrations. Our results were robust in that the association was present for each of the estimates of disease severity (coronary artery, cerebrovascular, and lower-limb disease), was not influenced by the various possible definitions of hyperhomocyst(e)inemia, and was independent of classic risk factors for atherosclerosis. The relatively high prevalence of coronary artery disease in the second quartile of homocysteine levels (Fig 2
) is probably a chance finding. Several findings support the hypothesis that hyperhomocyst(e)inemia is causally related to atherosclerotic disease. First, the prevalence of coronary artery, cerebrovascular, and peripheral arterial disease is associated with hyperhomocyst(e)inemia.6 7 8 9 10 11 In men, higher homocysteine levels are associated with an increased incidence of myocardial infarction12 13 and possibly of stroke.21 In addition, a "dose-response" relationship is supported by the fact that the severity of atherosclerotic disease is associated with hyperhomocyst(e)inemia, as shown by the present study in patients with lower-extremity atherosclerotic disease and by a previous study in men with coronary heart disease.22 Second, data from in vitro studies14 suggesting that excess homocysteine may cause endothelial injury, a key event in atherogenesis, were recently supported by a small study23 in patients with lower-limb atherosclerotic disease that showed that endothelial dysfunction, as estimated by increased plasma von Willebrand factor concentrations, was ameliorated by treatment of hyperhomocyst(e)inemia with folic acid and vitamin B6.
It is currently debated whether the association between atherosclerotic disease and hyperhomocyst(e)inemia differs between men and women, by location of disease, and between fasting or random (ie, either fasting or nonfasting but without methionine loading) and postmethionine homocysteine levels. Our results suggest that among young patients with lower-limb atherosclerotic disease, the association is most pronounced in women (especially postmenopausal women), is about equally strong for coronary artery and cerebrovascular disease, and is not clearly different for postmethionine than for fasting homocysteine levels.
Malinow et al24 observed in asymptomatic subjects a graded increase in prevalence of carotid artery intimal-medial thickening with increasing random homocysteine levels that was more pronounced in women. In contrast, Selhub et al25 reported no significant sex difference in the relation between the prevalence of carotid artery stenosis and random homocysteine levels. A recent prospective study26 did not observe a significant relation between incidence of stroke and (random) homocysteine levels in healthy men or women, although the OR was in fact somewhat higher in women. Thus, notwithstanding the highly selected nature of our patient group, a sex difference in the risk associated with hyperhomocyst(e)inemia is a distinct possibility and needs further investigation.
Our study directly compared the risks associated with fasting and
postmethionine homocysteine levels. The data raise the possibility that
severity of atherosclerosis is more strongly related to
postmethionine homocysteine than to fasting homocysteine levels,
especially in women (Table 4). This finding is supported by
indirect
comparisons of risks, ie, the risk associated with the fasting level in
one population to that associated with the postmethionine level in
another.10 12 21 24 25
If corroborated by additional
studies, this conclusion has important clinical and theoretical
implications. First, postmethionine homocysteine concentration would
provide the most accurate risk estimate. Identification of patients at
risk made only on the basis of their fasting homocysteine level would
not be possible because, depending on the exact cutoff, about 38% to
54% of patients with high postmethionine homocysteine concentrations
have a normal fasting level (Reference 20 and the present study).
The latter finding, moreover, suggests the existence of multiple
underlying metabolic deficits, because fasting and
postmethionine homocysteine levels are thought to be determined by
different pathways, ie, remethylation and transsulfuration of
homocysteine, respectively.27 Second, because most models
of homocysteine-induced vascular injury assume that the average
extracellular homocysteine concentration is
relevant,14 15
it is interesting to note that the fasting (or random) homocysteine
level reflects the average daily level much more closely than does the
postmethionine level.28 29 Thus, the high risk
associated
with postmethionine homocysteine levels indicates either that peak (not
average) extracellular levels are important or that postmethionine
levels reflect some crucial intracellular metabolic
disturbance.
Homocysteine metabolism is modulated by genetic and environmental factors. The most important examples of the latter are renal failure and deficiencies of folic acid, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6.10 It is less clear whether variability in these vitamins within their conventionally defined normal ranges also affects homocysteine levels. Our results suggest that any such influence is not strong in young patients with high homocysteine levels. The explanation for this is not clear but may be related to a relatively high prevalence of genetic abnormalities of homocysteine metabolism in young patients with hyperhomocyst(e)inemia,10 which might alter the relations between homocysteine and vitamin levels.25
Our study has several limitations. Its sample size was sufficient to investigate the relationship between severity of atherosclerotic disease and homocysteine levels but insufficient to definitively answer the questions of whether these relationships differ between fasting and postmethionine homocysteine and/or between men and women. Because there are no published studies on these issues, our sample size considerations were based on indirect comparisons, which suggested that the risk of vascular disease might be much higher with postmethionine than with fasting hyperhomocyst(e)inemia (eg, relative risk, 23.99 versus 3.112 for coronary artery disease). Our results indicate that such large differences are unlikely in young patients with lower-limb disease.
We did not measure other known risk factors for atherosclerotic disease that may be relevant in patients with lower-limb atherosclerotic disease, such as lipid profile (other than total cholesterol), fibrinogen,30 and cross-linked fibrin degradation products.31 The possible relationship between fibrinogen and homocysteine concentrations22 needs further study. In addition, our results were obtained in young patients with lower-extremity atherosclerotic disease, almost all of whom were smokers. We cannot exclude a specific effect of hyperhomocyst(e)inemia in smokers, and extrapolation of our conclusions to the general population requires caution.
We conclude that the severity of atherosclerosis in young patients with lower-limb atherosclerotic disease is associated with high homocysteine levels. Lowering high homocysteine levels is possible by treatment with folic acid and vitamin B6,20 which stimulate homocysteine remethylation and transsulfuration, respectively. Whether such treatment slows the progression of atherosclerotic disease in patients with lower-limb arterial disease is not known and requires further investigation.
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Acknowledgments |
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Dr van den Berg is supported by the Praeventiefonds (Prevention Fund). Dr Stehouwer is the recipient of a fellowship from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Diabetes Fonds Nederland (Diabetes Research Fund).
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Footnotes |
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Reprint requests to Dr M. van den Berg, Institute for Cardiovascular Research, Department of Vascular Surgery, Free University Hospital, PO Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Received September 11, 1995; accepted October 17, 1995.
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