Otieno C F, Vaghela V, Ogola E N, Amayo E O
Department of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi. P. O. Box 19676 - 00202, Nairobi, Kenya.
East Afr Med J. 2005 Dec;82(12 Suppl):S180-3. doi: 10.4314/eamj.v82i12.9379.
Increased total homocysteine (tHcy) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The measurement of tHcy in blood is therefore of potential great importance especially in patients with type 2 diabetes.
To determine the total homocysteine levels in ambulatory patients with type 2 diabetes.
Cross-sectional, prospective study.
Outpatient diabetic clinic of the Kenyatta National Hospital.
Ambulatory patients with Type 2 diabetes without overt cardiovascular, renal, liver or other chronic disease.
Serum levels of tHcy, HbA1c, lipids and socio-demographic characteristics.
A total of 115 patients, 48% males, with type 2 diabetes were included in the study. The mean (sd) age of the males was 56.85 (8.96) years and of the females was 55.68 (8.93) years. The mean (sd) total serum homocysteine for males of 12.97 (6.06) micromol/l was significantly higher than that of the females of 10.64 (4.41) micromol/l. The cholesterol, glycated haemoglobin, the body mass index and blood pressure of the study subjects did not show any statistically significant influence on their homocysteine levels. However, increasing age and duration of diabetes showed a significant linear relationship with rising level of total serum homocysteine. Some study participants reported smoking habit but unreliably.
There was a significant proportion of the study patients with high levels of serum homocysteine, although most of them were of low to intermediate risk category. It may be prudent to assay homocysteine levels in patients with type 2 diabetes who are either older or have had diabetes for long duration for potential intervention.
总同型半胱氨酸（tHcy）升高是心血管疾病的独立危险因素。因此，血液中tHcy的检测具有潜在的重要意义，尤其是对于2型糖尿病患者。
测定非卧床2型糖尿病患者的总同型半胱氨酸水平。
横断面前瞻性研究。
肯雅塔国家医院门诊糖尿病诊所。
无明显心血管、肾脏、肝脏或其他慢性疾病的非卧床2型糖尿病患者。
血清tHcy水平、糖化血红蛋白（HbA1c）、血脂及社会人口学特征。
本研究共纳入115例2型糖尿病患者，其中男性占48%。男性的平均（标准差）年龄为56.85（8.96）岁，女性为55.68（8.93）岁。男性血清总同型半胱氨酸的平均（标准差）水平为12.97（6.06）微摩尔/升，显著高于女性的10.64（4.41）微摩尔/升。研究对象的胆固醇、糖化血红蛋白、体重指数和血压对其同型半胱氨酸水平均无统计学上的显著影响。然而，年龄增长和糖尿病病程延长与血清总同型半胱氨酸水平升高呈显著线性关系。一些研究参与者报告有吸烟习惯，但情况不可靠。
本研究中有相当比例的患者血清同型半胱氨酸水平较高，尽管他们大多属于低至中度风险类别。对于年龄较大或糖尿病病程较长的2型糖尿病患者，检测同型半胱氨酸水平以便进行潜在干预可能是谨慎的做法。
