Effect of age and sex on plasma total homocysteine in Taiwanese subjects

Plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) is now established as a clinical risk factor for coronary artery disease, as well as far other arterial and venous occlusive diseases. Therefore, we measured the plasma tHcy concentrations in 385 healthy Chinese subjects in Taiwan and in 40 patients with occluded coronary artery disease or maintenance hemodialysis. The plasma tHcy levels in Taiwanese male and female volunteers were found to increase gradually with age (age group: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and >60; mean +/- SD 8.22 +/- 2.00, 8.51 +/- 2.67, 8.87 +/- 2.22, 11.41 +/- 2.50 and 13.28 +/- 2.31 muM for male volunteers and 6.49 +/- 1.75, 7.15 +/- 1.20, 7.40 +/- 1.30, 9.57 +/- 3.01 and 10.95 +/- 2.11 muM for female volunteers). At the same age, male volunteers were shown to have higher tHcy levels than female volunteers. In addition, the mean concentrations of plasma tHcy in occluded coronary artery disease (13.62 +/- 5.43 muM) or in maintenance hemodialysis (21.28 +/- 4.32 muM) Were statistically higher than in age-matched normal subjects (11.02 +/- 2.85 muM). This study emphasizes the significance of age and sex-associated difference in the plasma tHcy levels, and underlines the importance of the range for plasma homocysteine in normal Taiwanese subjects.