Hyperhomocysteinemia and severity of peripheral vascular disease: a rebuttal

Abstract

Ciccarone and colleagues report that homocysteine levels are associated with the severity of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in Type 2 diabetic patients [1]. In this study the difference of the median total homocysteine (tHcy) levels in patients with PAD and in controls without PAD was not statistically significant (10.7 µmol L−1 vs. 10.3 µmol L−1, P = 0.53). However, comparing the patients with three or more stenotic or occluded arteries of the lower limbs with the control population, the authors found a significant odds ratio of 2.77 for homocysteine levels above the median of the control patients and concluded that tHcy is associated with the severity of PAD in Type 2 diabetes.