Plasma Homocysteine is a Predictive Factor for Arterial Stiffness: A Community-Based 4.8-Year Prospective Study

The authors investigated whether plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) is a predictive factor for arterial stiffness (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity [cf-PWV] and carotid-radial PWV) in 1447 patients from a 4.8-year prospective study in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Baseline tHcy showed a significant relationship with follow-up cf-PWV (β=0.817, P=.015) in a multivariable linear regression analysis. A stepwise logistic regression model showed that baseline levels of tHcy were significantly associated with follow-up cf-PWV in the adjusted models. Furthermore, the baseline tHcy levels showed a significant association with increases in cf-PWV. There was no association between the change in tHcy and increase in PWV. The present study clearly demonstrated an association between tHcy levels and arterial stiffness, indicating that tHcy is an independent predictive factor for arterial stiffness in a community-based population.