title: Evidence of increased homocysteine levels in alcoholism: the Franconian alcoholism research studies (FARS).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A limited number of investigations have studied clearly defined patients with alcoholism and blood alcohol concentrations with their correlation to plasma homocysteine values and differentiated actively drinking patients from those with early abstinence. Therefore, this power analysis-based study was undertaken to determine whether plasma homocysteine levels are evidently altered in actively drinking alcoholic patients and patients with early abstinence.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two groups of patients with an established diagnosis of alcohol dependence. For both groups, a power of 90% (alpha = 0.05) was applied. Group A comprised 144 consecutively admitted actively drinking patients with alcoholism. Group B consisted of 56 patients with alcoholism who had abstained from alcohol for 24 to 72 hr before admission to the hospital.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Plasma homocysteine levels were significantly (t test: df = 198, t = -8.6, p < 0.0001) higher at admission when comparing group A with group B. The highly increased homocysteine levels in actively drinking patients with alcoholism were based on a strong significant positive correlation with the blood alcohol concentration (multiple regression analysis, p < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Plasma homocysteine levels are evidently altered in actively drinking patients with alcoholism. Even though it has been described, the authors found no evidence for an increase of homocysteine levels in alcoholic patients with early abstinence. The current results emphasize the proposed pathogenetic role of increased plasma homocysteine levels in alcohol-related disorders (i.e., brain atrophy, alcohol withdrawal seizures).
authors.affiliation: Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054 Erlangen, Germany. stefan.bleich@t-online.de
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bleich
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carl
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bayerlein
authors.forename: Udo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Reulbach
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Biermann
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hillemacher
authors.forename: Dominikus
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bönsch
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kornhuber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000378:metabolism*; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000097:blood; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D006710:Homocysteine; D000431:Ethanol