Plasma homocysteine concentration relates to the severity but not to the duration of Alzheimer's disease.
BACKGROUND
It has been reported that plasma tHcy concentration is elevated in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and relates to the progress or the development of AD. In the present study we have compared plasma tHcy concentrations at different times during the course of AD and with measures corresponding to the severity and the progress rate of AD.


METHODS
The study population consisted of 159 patients with AD. Three measures corresponding to the progress rate of AD were created by dividing the actual scores of the severity of the dementia, the Berger scale and the Katz index by the estimated duration.


RESULTS
AD patients without a history of cardiovascular disease did not show a significant increase of plasma tHcy concentration compared to the control subjects, whereas AD patients with cardiovascular disease exhibited a significant increase of plasma tHcy concentration compared to both control subjects and patients without cardiovascular disease. However, after creatinine adjustment of plasma tHcy in control subjects and AD patients a significant increase of plasma tHcy was observed also in AD patients without cardiovascular disease compared to controls. The concentration of plasma tHcy in AD patients with and without cardiovascular history did not increase with time after disease onset. Plasma tHcy concentration correlated with the severity of the disease. The correlations between plasma tHcy and measures of rate progression of AD did not improve compared with the correlations between plasma tHcy and the severity of dementia.


CONCLUSIONS
An interpretation of these findings may be that plasma tHcy is additionally increased in AD patients when a complication occurs, such as folate/cobalamin deficiency or a cardiovascular disease.
Nilsson
Karin
K
Department of Psychogeriatrics, University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
Gustafson
Lars
L
Hultberg
Björn
B
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors
D015415:Biomarkers; D006710:Homocysteine