The Relationship between Serum Homocysteine and Incidence of Atherosclerosis in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background and Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death in people with diabetes. These diseases occur earlier in diabetics than non-diabetics. Increased plasma homocysteine levels are among the factors that accelerate atherosclerosis in diabetic patients. Plasma homocysteine levels increase significantly in patients with atherosclerosis. Therefore, in this study, homocysteine levels were assessed in patients with diabetes mellitus and coronary atherosclerosis. A case-control study was conducted in which the subjects were divided into three groups (n=25 per group): the group of diabetic patients with atherosclerosis, diabetic patients without atherosclerosis, and atherosclerotic patients without diabetes. The fasting plasma homocysteine levels and other variables were measured by ELISA (Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and routine laboratory methods, respectively. Data analysis was performed applying Spearman and Pearson tests in SPSS V.13. The means of homocysteine levels in diabetic patients with atherosclerosis, in atherosclerosis subjects without diabetes and in diabetic patients without atherosclerosis were 18.52±6.36, 13.56±4.53, and 9.99±3.3 μmol/L, respectively. We observed significant differences between the three groups (P <0.05). In diabetic patients with atherosclerosis, the serum concentration of homocysteine was higher than those of the other groups. High levels of homocysteine may have a role in high prevalence of atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.