ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between smoking and hyperhomocysteinemia (HHe) in ischemic stroke patients. METHODS: The clinical data of 329 ischemic stroke patients with HHe and 306 age-matched ischemic stroke patients without HHe, including sex, symptoms, signs, history of smoking, and plasma homocysteine (Hcy), folate, and vitamin B(12) concentrations were compared. The ischemic stroke lesions were divided into 2 subtypes: large vessel disease group and small vessel disease group according to the TOAST system. RESULT: The number of cigarettes smoked per day, cumulative year of smoking, and smoking index (number of cigarettes smoked per day X cumulative year of smoking), and ratio of males of the HHe group were all significantly higher than those of the non-HHe group, and the plasma homocysteine, folate, and vitamin B(12) concentrations of the HHe group were all significantly lower than those of the non-HHe group (all P < 0.01). Smoking index was positively correlated with the Hcy concentrations and negatively correlated with the folate and vitamin B(12) concentrations (all P < 0.01). The smoking proportion and Hcy concentration of the male patients were significantly higher than those of the female patients (both P < 0.01), and the plasma folate and vitamin B(12) concentrations of the male patients were all significantly lower than those of the female patients (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05). The number of cigarettes smoked per day, cumulative year of smoking, smoking index, and Hcy concentration of the large vessel disease group were all significantly higher than those of the small vessel disease group (all P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Smoking and being male may be the risk factors of HHe in ischemic stroke patients. Smoking and HHe are prone to cause lesion in large vessel.
