Associations between homocysteine and coagulation factors - A cross-sectional study in two populations of central Europe

Plasma homocysteine has been associated with vascular disease and mortality . Experimental studies and studies on patients with vascular disease have i ndicated a thrombogenic potential of raised homocysteine levels. Studies on community samples are rare. We investigated the associations between homoc ysteine levels and selected coagulation factors in population-based random samples of 187 men from Pardubice (Czech Republic) and 147 men from Augsbur g (Germany), aged 45 to 64 years. Czech men had higher mean levels of plasm a homocysteine (10.3 vs. 8.9 mu mol/1, P < .001) and of fibrinogen, von Wil lebrand factor (vWF), prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 (F 1 + 2) and D-Dimer (eac h P < .05). Plasma homocysteine was positively correlated with fibrinogen ( r = .34) and vWF (r = .23, each P < .001) only in Czechs, and with D-Dimer in both Czechs and Germans (r = .26 and .21, respectively). Formal testing for interaction regarding the intercountry differences in the relationship with homocysteine revealed significance only for fibrinogen (P < .01). In m ultivariate analyses, the association of homocysteine with D-Dimer remained statistically significant after adjustment for indicators of chronic infla mmation and fibrinogen. No significant correlation was found with Factor VI I (F VII) activity or F 1 + 2. Homocysteine levels were also unrelated to t raditional risk factors. In conclusion, in these cross-sectional studies we found moderate to strong associations between homocysteine and components of the endogenous hemostatic and fibrinolytic systems. The associations wer e slightly different between Czech and German men. These findings may help to better understand the role of homocysteine in atherothrombotic diseases. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.