Homocysteine in angiographically proven coronary disease.

The research included 200 subjects, of which 150 had angiographically proven coronary disease with the coronary artery stenosis of 50% or more, and 50 subjects who did not have angiographically proven coronary disease. Patients were chosen randomly out of approximately 1000 patients who underwent angiography. All the subjects were treated at the Clinical Center of University of Tuzla--at the Clinic for Cardiovascular Diseases. The average value of homocysteine concentration in plasma of patients with angiographically proven coronary disease was 13.86 micromol/L, and 10.65 micromol/L in the controls, which is statistically significant difference (P < 0.0001). Lowered values of ejective fraction of the left ventricle of 50% and over was found in 25 patients (or 16.66%) with angiographically proven coronary disease, while the control group had only 4 subjects (or 8%). Student's t-test have proven that the average values of ejective fraction of the left ventricle of subject with angiographically proven coronary disease were statistically significantly different in comparison with the values of ejective fraction of the subjects in the control group (t = 5.87, df = 197, P < 0.0001). In all the groups the negative values of coefficients of correlation (R) shows that with the increase of plasma homocysteine concentrations the ejective fractions of the left ventricle dropped. Using logistical regressive analysis it was established that the following factors contribute the most to the development of coronary disease: increased concentration of plasma LDL-cholesterol, increased concentration of plasma homocysteine, diabetes mellitus and hereditary factors. In all the different forms of angiographically proven coronary disease (coronary disease in a one-vessel or in multiple-vessels), the increased concentration of plasma homocysteine was the significant risk factor for the development of coronary disease.