Journal «Angiology and Vascular Surgery» • 

2011 • VOLUME 17 • №4

Hyperhomocysteinemia and plasma acute-phase proteins in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and severe course of atherosclerosis after vascular operations

Doguzhieva R.M., Pokrovskii A.V., Demidova V.S., Lebedeva A.N.

Interdependence between the level of homocysteine and acute-phase proteins was assessed in patients presenting with a severe course of atherosclerosis. We examined a total of 67 patients aged 62.3±1.03 years. Of these, 34 patients had type 2 diabetes mellitus and 35 were non-diabetic. The diabetic patients were found to suffer a severe course of the disease, with 65.6% having a decompensated form. We carried out a comparative analysis of the level of homocysteine, C-reactive protein, and that of fibrinogen. It was noted that diabetic patients significantly more often showed high levels of blood-plasma total homocysteine, C-reactive protein, and that of fibrinogen as compared to non-diabetic patients. Hyperhomocysteinemia appeared to correlate with elevated levels of C-reactive protein (r=0.37, p=0.04) and that of fibrinogen (r=0.36, p=0.04) at HbA1c ≥7%. The obtained findings strongly suggest interrelationship of high levels of blood-plasma homocysteine and an elevation in acute-phase proteins in a decompensated form of diabetes mellitus and the presence of sluggish chronic inflammation in all patients, either with or without diabetes mellitus. Inclusion of homocysteine measuring and a highly sensitive method for determining C-reactive protein into the standard of examining patients with atherosclerosis improves diagnosis of the pathological condition, while timely correction of the impairments revealed promotes a decrease in the risk of the development of complications.

KEY WORDS: type 2 diabetes mellitus, hyperhomocysteinemia, C-reactive protein, inflammation, atherosclerosis.

P. 27-28

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