Increased plasma homocysteine is an independent predictor of new coronary events in older persons

A prospective study investigated the association of plasma homocysteine and other risk factors with the incidence of new coronary events at 31 +/- 9 m onth follow-up in 153 men and 347 women, mean age 81 +/- 9 years. The stepw ise Cox regression model showed that significant independent predictors of new coronary events in older persons were age (risk ratio 1.041), plasma ho mocysteine (risk ratio 1.073), current cigarette smoking (risk ratio 2.524) , hypertension (risk ratio 2.032), diabetes mellitus (risk ratio 2.022), se rum total cholesterol (risk ratio 1.013), serum high-density lipoprotein ch olesterol (risk ratio 0.925), and serum triglycerides (risk ratio 1.004).