This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Chrysohoou, C. Articles by Stefanadis, C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Chrysohoou, C. Articles by Stefanadis, C. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

The associations between smoking, physical activity, dietary habits and plasma homocysteine levels in cardiovascular disease-free people: the ‘ATTICA’ study

First Cardiology Clinic, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece

Demosthenes B Panagiotakos

First Cardiology Clinic, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece, d.b.panagiotakos{at}usa.net

Christos Pitsavos

First Cardiology Clinic, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece

Akis Zeimbekis

First Cardiology Clinic, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece

Antonis Zampelas

Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece

Lambros Papademetriou

First Cardiology Clinic, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece

Constantina Masoura

First Cardiology Clinic, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece

Christodoulos Stefanadis

First Cardiology Clinic, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece

Homocysteine levels are considered, by some investigators, as an independent factor of cardiovascular disease; however, others suggest that there is not a causal relationship. The aim of this work was to investigate the associations between homocysteine levels and several lifestyle-related factors. The ATTICA study is a population-based cohort that has randomly enrolled 1128 adult men and 1154 women, stratified by age and gender, from the greater area of Athens, during 2001 2002. Among several demographic, lifestyle, clinical and biochemical characteristics, we measured total plasma homocysteine levels. For the present analysis, we excluded people who had a history of cardiovascular disease. The factors that showed the strongest relationship with homocysteine levels, in both genders, even after adjusting for several potential confounders were: cigarette smoking (p=0.03), endurance exercise (inverse, p<0.05), fruit (inverse, p=0.01) and vegetable intake (inverse, p=0.04), and alcohol (p=0.04) and coffee intake (p=0.04). In conclusion, several lifestyle-related factors seem to be associated with homocysteine levels. However, the vast majority of the associations were weak when we adjusted for other co-factors. The latter may indicate the mutual confounding effect of various socio-demographic, anthropometric and other clinical characteristics on the relationship between homocysteine and cardiovascular risk.

Key Words: alcohol • cardiovascular • coffee • diet • homocysteine • risk factors

Vascular Medicine, Vol. 9, No. 2, 117-123 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/1358863x04vm542oa


CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. H. Ruder, T. J. Hartman, J. Blumberg, and M. B. Goldman Oxidative stress and antioxidants: exposure and impact on female fertility Hum. Reprod. Update, June 4, 2008; (2008) dmn011v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. R. Ruiz, R. Sola, M. Gonzalez-Gross, F. B. Ortega, G. Vicente-Rodriguez, M. Garcia-Fuentes, A. Gutierrez, M. Sjostrom, K. Pietrzik, and M. J. Castillo Cardiovascular Fitness Is Negatively Associated With Homocysteine Levels in Female Adolescents Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, February 1, 2007; 161(2): 166 - 171. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Refsum, E. Nurk, A. D. Smith, P. M. Ueland, C. G. Gjesdal, I. Bjelland, A. Tverdal, G. S. Tell, O. Nygard, and S. E. Vollset The Hordaland Homocysteine Study: A Community-Based Study of Homocysteine, Its Determinants, and Associations with Disease J. Nutr., June 1, 2006; 136(6): 1731S - 1740S. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]