Volume 1 number 1 Summer 2003
Special issue for the abstracts of the 7th Pan Arab Conference on Diabetes
PACD7 , 25 – 28 March 2003 Cairo

Abstract Number : 77
Plasma Homocysteine in Relation to Micro-vascular
Complications in diabetes mellitus type I

Safinaz A El-Habashy, Sahar MA Hassanin, 
Mona H El-Samahy, Zinab MR Talib*, and Mona Zaki**
Departments of Pediatrics, Clinical Pathology**, Ain
Shams University, and Biochemistry*, Nutrition
Institute, Cairo.

Abstract:
Homocysteine is involved in a complex and dynamic system of vascular injury and repairs and may thus contribute to the development of diabetic micro-angiopathy. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between fasting plasma Homocysteine in-patients with type I diabetes and its relation to diabetic micro-vascular complications. To elucidate the basis of this association, the major determinants of plasma Hcy were investigated. Fifty consecutive patients with type I diabetes (17 boys, and 33 girls; aged 14.9 +/-5.5 years) and 28 matched controls were enrolled. Plasma concentration of fasting total Homocysteine (tHcy) was determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Seum folate, vitamin B12, creatinine and lipid parameters were assessed by specific assays. Plasma tHcy concentrations were not different in the 50 diabetic patients compared with the control group; 15.1+/-3.2 Vs 15.1+/-2.8 umol/l, p>0.05. Yet, those with diabetic microvascular complications (n=18) had significantly higher mean Hc levels than those without (n=32); 16.4+/-3.1 Vs 14.3+/-3.0 umol/l, p<0.05. Meanwhile, serum folate, vitamin B12, creatinine and lipid parameters were comparable in two groups of patients. Homocysteine, frequency of hyperhomocysteinemia, and diabetes duration were the only significant predictors of microvascular complications in multiple regression models including variables influencing both Hcy and diabetic microvascular complications. A significant positive correlation was observed between plasma Hc and serum creatinine ( p<o.ooo1), while an inverse relation was found between Hc and serum folate (p<o.o1) and vitamin B12 (p<0.01). In conclusion, hyperhomocysteinemia was detected in type I diabetic patients in relation to microangiopathic complications, and independently, diabetes duration and plasma tHcy could predict such complications.

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