Ravaglia G, Forti P, Maioli F, Zanardi V, Dalmonte E, Grossi G, Cucinotta D, Macini P, Caldarera M
Center for the Study of Fisiopathology of Ageing, University of Bologna, Italy.
J Nutr Health Aging. 2000;4(4):218-22.
Increased plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) levels are a known risk factor for vascular disease and have been reported in association with cognitive impairment of old age. Alternatively, however, increased tHcy levels may simply be an indicator of B vitamin deficiency. We evaluated the relationship between plasma tHcy levels, serum vitamin B12 and folate levels, and the scores at a battery of neuropsychological tests in 54 healthy cognitively normal subjects aged 65 years and over. Hyperhomocysteinemia prevalence (plasma tHcy>15 micromol/L) was about 24%. In univariate analysis, vitamin B12 levels were associated with both verbal memory and visuo-spatial skills, whereas no association was found between psychometric test scores and folate levels or tHcy levels. However, none of the univariate associations of neuropsychological test scores and serum B12 vitamin levels was confirmed when adjusting for age, education and other confounding variables. In conclusion, although a relationship between homocysteine, B vitamins and poor cognitive skills in the elderly is plausible, this study does not suggests that such relationship is biologically important.
血浆总同型半胱氨酸（tHcy）水平升高是已知的血管疾病风险因素，且已有报道称其与老年认知障碍有关。然而，另一方面，tHcy水平升高可能仅仅是B族维生素缺乏的一个指标。我们评估了54名65岁及以上健康认知正常受试者的血浆tHcy水平、血清维生素B12和叶酸水平与一系列神经心理学测试得分之间的关系。高同型半胱氨酸血症患病率（血浆tHcy>15微摩尔/升）约为24%。在单变量分析中，维生素B12水平与言语记忆和视觉空间技能均相关，而心理测量测试得分与叶酸水平或tHcy水平之间未发现关联。然而，在对年龄、教育程度和其他混杂变量进行校正后，神经心理学测试得分与血清维生素B12水平之间的单变量关联均未得到证实。总之，尽管同型半胱氨酸、B族维生素与老年人认知技能差之间的关系看似合理，但本研究并未表明这种关系具有生物学重要性。
