Association of High Serum Homocysteine Levels and Severe Chronic Venous Disease.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Homocysteine (Hcy) is considered as a modifiable risk factor for vascular disease. This study was aimed to explore the association between serum concentration and the severity of primary chronic venous disease (CVD). METHODS: Clinical data of 582 patients diagnosed with primary CVD were collected and analyzed retrospectively. The Clinical Etiology Anatomy Pathophysiology classification system was used to grade the severity of chronic venous disease. Patients were divided into 2 groups (group A C1-C3; group B C4-C6). The association between serum homocysteine levels and the severity of primary chronic venous disease was investigated using rank sum test and logistic regression. RESULTS: The difference between the level of homocysteine in each grade has statistical significance. Group A has higher median Hcy concentrations than Group B (15.40 µmol/L vs. 14.05 µmol/L, P< 0.01). Further binary logistic regression showed no statistical significance among the level of Hcy (11.00-14.75 µmol/L [OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.40-1.11, P= 0.12], 14.75-20.38µmol/L [OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.59-1.69, P = 0.89], ≥20.38 µmol/L [OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.41-1.10, P = 0.11]), but age (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.04, P< 0.01) and female (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.28-0.59, P< 0.01) are associated with more severe stages of CVD. CONCLUSIONS: Higher level of Hcy is associated with more severe stages of CVD, but it not an independent risk factor. However, Advanced age and female are risk factors for CVD development based on logistic regression analysis.