Role of Homocysteine in Development of Cardiovascular Disease in Type 2 Diabetes

Object: Diabetes mellitus (DM) refers to a group of commonmetabolic disorders that share the phenotype ofhyperglycemia. DM is a condition in which there is a chronicallyraised blood glucose concentration. Diabetes mellitusrepresents an important independent risk factor for thedevelopment of and mortality from coronary heart disease, andincreases the risk by 2 to 4 times. An increased plasmahomocysteine level is an important risk factor for vasculardisease, including coronary atherosclerosis, in the generalpopulation. However, the role of hyperhomocysteinemia in thedevelopment of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients withtype 2 diabetes is unknown. Therefore, present study wasconducted to determine the relationship between plasmahomocysteine levels and the presence of CAD in patients withtype 2 diabetes.Materials and Methods: Patients of known or newlydiagnosed cases of diabetes mellitus type 2 for 8 monthsduration who came through outdoor patient department (OPD)or indoor patient of Hi-tech hospital and research center,Bhubaneswar. Blood samples were collected in fasting state toanalyzed for fasting blood glucose, lipid profile, Plasmahomocysteine level.Results: In DM patients, Homocysteine found to bestatistically significant increased (p < 0.001) from 11.39 ± 0.91to 19.19 ± 1.08 μmol/L by 68.48% with respect to controlsubjects.Conclusion: The aforementioned observations suggested thatelevated level of homocysteine could be responsible for thepathogenesis of CAD. Available evidence indicates thathyperglycemia increases risk for cardiovascular disease indiabetes mellitus.