COMPARISON OF PLASMA HOMOCYSTEINE (HCY) LEVELS IN NORMAL POPULATION AND PATIENTS OF PSEUDOEXFOLIATION SYNDROME

Plasma Homocysteine Levels Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome

Abstract

Objective: To compare mean plasma homocysteine (HCY) levels (measured in umol/L) of normal population with patients having pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PXS).
Study Design: Cross sectional comparative study.
Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out at Armed Forces Institute of Ophthalmology, Rawalpindi, from May 2016 to Apr 2017.
Patients and Methods: In this study 60 patients of PXS and 60 healthy subjects of both genders between ages of 40 and 50 years, with best corrected visual acuity of 6/6 on snellen visual acuity chart were included. All the participants were subjected to ophthalmic clinical examination including corrected distance visual acuity and slit lamp examination. Participants in both groups were evaluated for plasma homocysteine levels, by collection into a heparinized tube and later transferred in ice blocks. The samples were centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 5 minutes and stored at -20°C until the biochemical assay. HCY levels were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
Results: Total 120 participants of both groups were similar with respect to gender and age (p-value>0.05). There were 36 (60%) males and 24 (40%) females in PXS group and in control group there were 29 (48.3%) males and 31 (51.7%) females. The mean age of PXS group was 44.68 ± 3.234 years and for healthy control group it was 45.0 ± 3.13 years. The comparison of homocysteine level between healthy controls and PXS patients showed a highly significant (p-value<0.01) difference between both groups. The mean homocysteine level was (32.14 ± 14.33) in PXS group as compared to healthy controls (14.41 ± 4.51). The comparison of proportions of homocysteinemia showed that the rate of homocysteinemia was significantly (p-value<0.05) greater among patients of PXS. There were 24 (40%) participants in healthy control group who had homocysteinemia in comparison with 58 (96.67%) patients who had homocysteinemia among PXS group.
Conclusion: Plasma HCY levels were raised in patients of pseudoexfoliation syndrome as compared to normal population, hence these patients may be considered for further systemic investigations by a medical specialist.