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[Raised homocysteine plasma concentration in patients with heart failure: clinical significance]

E Vizzardi1, S Nodari, C Fiorina

  • 1Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Applicata, Cattedra di Cardiologia, Università degli Studi di Brescia.

Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease = Archivio Monaldi Per Le Malattie Del Torace
|September 25, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Elevated homocysteine levels are linked to heart failure severity. Higher homocysteine correlates with increased New York Heart Association (NYHA) class in heart failure patients.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Biochemistry
  • Vascular Medicine

Context:

  • Hyper-homocysteinemia is an established risk factor for vascular diseases.
  • Previous research indicates a link between homocysteine and heart failure.
  • Data on the association between homocysteine and objective/subjective heart failure measures are limited.

Purpose:

  • To investigate the association between plasma homocysteine levels and clinical/echocardiographic signs of heart failure.
  • To analyze homocysteine levels in heart failure patients and correlate them with clinical-functional parameters like NYHA class and ejection fraction.

Summary:

  • Plasma homocysteine levels were significantly higher in 123 heart failure patients compared to 85 healthy controls.
  • Homocysteine levels positively correlated with NYHA functional class, age, and creatinine.
  • No correlation was found between homocysteine and ejection fraction or other hemodynamic/metabolic parameters.

Impact:

  • Plasma homocysteine levels are directly related to the severity of congestive heart failure, as indicated by NYHA class.
  • This finding highlights a significant association between homocysteine and heart failure.
  • Further research is needed to elucidate the causal or non-causal mechanisms underlying this relationship.
Abstract

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