Homocysteine levels and lacunar brain infarcts in elderly women: the prospective population study of women in Gothenburg.
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether total serum homocysteine (tHcy) in a population-based sample of middle-aged women is an independent risk factor for presence of lacunar infarcts (LIs) 24 years later.


METHODS
Prospective population study, follow-up time 24 years.


METHODS
Gothenburg, an urban area in western Sweden.


METHODS
Five hundred twenty-six women, 89.6% of the original study sample of the Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, aged 46 to 60 at baseline in 1968/69 and re-examined at age 70 to 84.


METHODS
After 24 years of follow-up, all subjects underwent a psychiatric examination, and 277 computerized tomography (CT) scans of the brain were performed. Two radiologists assessed LIs and white matter lesions (WMLs). Baseline serum tHcy was analyzed from frozen stored serum samples. Logistic regression analyses were performed controlling for potential confounders such as age and selected cardiovascular risk factors.


RESULTS
Thirty-four subjects had LIs in 1992 (12.3%). In the full multivariate-adjusted stepwise model, LIs were associated with elevated tHcy (odds ratio (OR)=1.09, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.01-1.17 per micromol/L of tHcy increment). Women with tHcy values in the highest tertile were almost three times as likely to have LIs (OR=2.82, 95% CI=1.34-5.93) as were those in the lowest tertile. tHcy was not related to WMLs. Subjects who did not undergo a CT scan did not differ from those who did regarding tHcy or any of the covariates studied.


CONCLUSIONS
tHcy in middle-aged women is an independent risk factor for LIs, but not WMLs, as observed using CT later in life.
Section for Primary Health Care, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Göteborg University, Gothenburg, Sweden. dimitri.zylberstein@allmed.gu.se
Dimitri Edin
DE
Zylberstein
Ingmar
I
Skoog
Cecilia
C
Björkelund
Xinxin
X
Guo
Bodil
B
Hultén
Lars-Arne
LA
Andreasson
Bo
B
Palmertz
Dag S
DS
Thelle
Lauren
L
Lissner
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020520:Brain Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
D006710:Homocysteine