[Relationship between serum homocysteine and metabolic syndrome: a cross-sectional study]

To explore the relationship between serum homocysteine and metabolic syndrome (MS).

A cohort with 1680 people involved in a community-based population in Beijing was investigated. Metabolic syndrome was defined by NCEP-ATPIII criteria. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratios (OR) of MS. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to analyze the association between Hcy and characteristic variables.

Homocysteine was higher in MS population compared to those without MS (17.99 µmol/L vs. 17.18 µmol/L, P=0.007) after adjusted for age and sex. Levels of homocysteine increased with the presence of MS components (from 0 to 4 or 5) (16.71, 16.94, 17.62, 18.20, 17.82 µmol/L respectively, P=0.044 for linear trend). Among the components, groups with larger waist circumference, higher blood pressure and triglycerides showed significantly higher Hcy level than their counterparts.

from multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the highest Hcy quartile (Hcy IV) was significantly associated with MS. Compared with the lowest Hcy quartile (Hcy I), the adjusted odds ratio of having MS in HcyIV was 1.379 (1.005-1.892) after adjusting for age, sex, levels on creatinine/estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)/low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and uric acid, smoking, alcohol intake and exercise. In the partial correlation analyses, Hcy was positively associated with body mass index (BMI), waist circumsternece, blood pressure, LDL-C, triglycerides (TG), uric acid, serum creatinine, eGFR, but inversely associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and independently with age and sex. In multiple linear regression analysis, age, male sex, BMI, LDL-C, creatinine and uric acid were found to be independently associated with Hcy level.

There was an association noticed between the MS using NCEP-ATPIII criteria and the highest quartile level of Hcy in this study. Factors as age and being male, the levels of BMI, LDL-C, creatinine and uric acid were independently associated with the Hcy level.