Background: An increased concentration of plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) was known to be associated with increased vascular events. The present study aimed to see whether plasma tHcy could be associated with bilaterality of atherosclerotic plaques in carotid arteries. Methods: Two hundred and fifty four patients who examined both carotid ultrasonogram and blood chemistries from January 2007 to March 2008 were included in the present study. The bilaterality of atherosclerotic plaques along carotid arterial segments at both the right and left sides were determined, and categorized into three according to the presence of plaques: none, either-sided (right or left), and both-sided (right and left). Statistical analysis included analysis of covariate and logistic regression adjusting for all the possible confounders including age, sex, and vascular risk factors. Results: Mean (±standard deviation) age of the study participants were 66.9 (±12.4 yrs) and the proportion of women was 31.5%. About 88 patients (34.6%) showed either-sided carotid plaques and 72 (28.3%) both-sided plaques. Plasma tHcy showed significantly increasing trends across the three categories (p＝0.044), with the highest values of tHcy in the patients with both-sided carotid plaques. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that plasma tHcy was independently associated with both-sided carotid plaques, with odds ratio of 1.06 (95% CIs, 1.01-1.11), even after adjusting for the potential confounders. Conclusions: The higher concentration of plasma tHcy was significantly and independently associated with both-sided distributions of carotid plaques.
Journal of Neurosonology 7(1):14-18, 2015
Key Words: Carotid artery, Homocysteine, Atherosclerosis, Ultrasonography