Objective: To determine association of hyperhomocysteinemia with myocardial infarction and conventional risk factors for ischemic heart disease.
Design: A non-interventional comparative case control study.
Place and duration of study: The study was conducted at the department of Chemical Pathology and Endocrinology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi and Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology / National Institute of Heart Diseases, Rawalpindi from January 2001 to June 2001.
Patients and methods: A total of 100 hospitalized patients having myocardial infarction (MI) were randomly selected comprising 85 males and 15 females. The average age of the patients was 53 +/-4.5 years. A similar number of age and gender-matched healthy controls were also selected. The demographic details, history and clinical examination of both patients and controls were recorded and their blood was collected in fasting state for estimation of serum total cholesterol, plasma glucose and serum total homocysteine.
Results: Serum total homocysteine level in controls was significantly lower (10.8 +/- 4.1 micromol/L) as compared to patients (18.0 +/- 5.9 micromol/L) (p < 0.0001). Smoking showed statistically significant association with hyperhomocysteinemic patients (p = 0.04).
Conclusion: Ischemic heart disease was associated with moderate hyperhomocysteinemia in our patients and it was also associated with smoking.