The relationship between homocysteine level and vitamins B12, B9 and B6 status in patients with chronic kidney disease

Abstract

According to present knowledge, hyperhomocysteinemia is one of the risk factors of cardio-vascular pathology. Patients with chronic kidney disease are known to develop hyperhomocysteinemia more often than those in general population. Important cause of hyperhomocysteinemia is the deficiency of vitamins В6, В9 and В12 that are involved in homocysteine metabolism. Vitamins deficiency, we believe, can be one of the causes of hyperhomocysteinemia in the patients with chronic renal failure. The aim of this article was to analyze the plasma homocysteine level in patients with chronic kidney disease and its association with the levels of vitamins B6, B9, B12 in Ukraine. The study involved 148 persons with different stages of chronic kidney disease who underwent immunoenzyme determination of total plasma homocysteine, B9, cobalamin and vitamin В6 status. It was found that in ukrainian patient population with chronic kidney disease 58.7% of patients have hyperhomocysteinemia. Homocysteine level was shown to increase with the increase of chronic kidney disease stage. Supply of vitamins В6, В9 та В12 in the patients with chronic kidney disease was lower than in apparently healthy persons, but there was significant decrease of folic acid level proportionally to the increase of chronic kidney disease stage. There was close relationship between homocysteine level and folic acid status in the patients with chronic kidney disease, but it appeared to be independent on cobalamin and pyridoxine status. The obtained data are promising for finding effective means of correction of hyperhomocysteinemia in patients with chronic kidney disease by normalizing the vitamin status of such patients.