ABSTRACT

It has been shown that high homocysteine (Hcy) levels and hyperlipidemia have a correlation with hypertension. In this study, we measured Hcy levels in normo and hyperlipidemic (low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) increasement) hypertensive patient groups and evaluated if high LDL-C had an extra effect on Hcy levels.

This study was performed in 2003 between the patients who admitted to emergency department or who were accepted and observed in emergency department observation room. Twenty five normolipidemic hypertensive patients(Group 1), 25 hyperlipidemic hypertensive patients(Group 2) and 21 healthy individuals (Group 3) were included in the study. Patients who were smoking, consuming alcohol on a routine basis, who had thyroid, liver, muscle and skeleton system or autoimmune diseases were excluded. Patients with high Vitamin B12 or folic acid levels were also excluded.

The difference for total Hcy levels between Group 1 and 2 were not significant (p>0.05), but the difference for total Hcy levels between Group 1 and 3 or 2 and 3 were significant (p<0.05). There were correlations between Hcy and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in all three groups, but these correlations were not statistically significant (p>0.05).

Although Hcy levels were high in hypertensive patients, hyperlipidemia did not affect the Hcy levels in hypertensive patients.

Keywords: Homocysteine, Hypertension, Hyperlipidemia