ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Elevated plasma homocysteine appears to be causally related to atherosclerosis by inducing both endothelial dysfunction and vascular structure alteration. Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, a non-invasive means of measuring atherosclerosis, reflects arterial stiffness. In this study, we investigated the association between the plasma homocysteine level and arterial stiffness in Korean adults. METHODS: The study group comprised of 405 subjects selected from examinees in the Health Promotion Center. Medical history, medication, and life style were recorded through a questionnaire and physical examination was performed on all subjects. We measured glucose tolerance index, lipid profile, inflammatory index, and plasma homocysteine level. We studied brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) as a measure of arterial stiffness. RESULTS: A total of 379 subjects were examined on all components. The mean age in 172 males was 54.5 +/- 8.7 years and in females was 57.2 +/- 7.0 years. The baPWV was observed to be positively correlated with age, blood pressure, hs-CRP, and homocysteine in males. In contrast, males, age, BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, glucose tolerance index, lipid profile except for HDL cholesterol, hs-CRP, and homocysteine were positively correlated with baPWV in females. The baPWV was increased according to the level of plasma homocysteine in males. After ontrolling or risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, homocysteine was associated with increased baPWV CONCLUSION: The results indicate that elevated plasma homocysteine was associated with baPWV in middle-aged male after adjustment for the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases.