| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
Articles |
Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Aarhus University Hospital at Skejby, DK-8000 Aarhus N, Denmark.
a Author for correspondence. Fax 45-8949-6018.
Background: Frequently, the result of only a single determination of total homocysteine in plasma (P-Hcy) is used to distinguish between the probability of the presence or absence of risk for vascular disease. A prerequisite for the interpretation of a single P-Hcy test is knowledge of the magnitude of within-person variation and the possible effects of preanalytical variables. However, data on within-person variation are still sparse and inconsistent, and data for the effect on P-Hcy of posture and tourniquet application during venipuncture are not available.
Methods: The within-person variation of P-Hcy and the effects of posture and tourniquet application during venipuncture were studied in 24 healthy subjects. The analytical imprecision of our stable-isotope dilution assay was 3.1%.
Results: The within-person variation (CV) was 8.1%. Daily supplementation with 0.4 mg of folic acid for 2 weeks produced a small but significant decrease in P-Hcy, but there were no significant changes in within-person variation before and after supplementation. After 30 min in the horizontal posture, P-Hcy declined by 6.3%. A 3-min tourniquet application caused a 2.8% increase of P-Hcy.
Conclusions: Our value for within-person variation is consistent with results from studies reported recently in the literature. A 3-min tourniquet application does not add appreciable variation to the measurement of P-Hcy, but the posture of the subject during venipuncture contributes considerably to the within-person variation. We recommend that blood collection when the patient is in a supine position be avoided.
The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:
|
|
 |
|
  H. R. N. Pour, D. E Grobbee, M. Muller, M. Emmelot-Vonk, and Y. T van der Schouw Serum sex hormone and plasma homocysteine levels in middle-aged and elderly men Eur. J. Endocrinol., December 1, 2006; 155(6): 887 - 893. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. R. Solomon Cobalamin-responsive disorders in the ambulatory care setting: unreliability of cobalamin, methylmalonic acid, and homocysteine testing Blood, February 1, 2005; 105(3): 978 - 985. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A Martinez-Berriotxoa, G Ruiz-Irastorza, M-V Egurbide, M Rueda, and C Aguirre Homocysteine, antiphospholipid antibodies and risk of thrombosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus Lupus, December 1, 2004; 13(12): 927 - 933. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 H. J. Huijgen, F. P.W. Tegelaers, C. H.H. Schoenmakers, C. J. Pronk-Admiraal, and S. Ekema Multicenter Analytical Evaluation of an Enzymatic Method for the Measurement of Plasma Homocysteine and Comparison with HPLC and Immunochemistry Clin. Chem., May 1, 2004; 50(5): 937 - 940. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. Nurk, G. S. Tell, S. E. Vollset, O. Nygard, H. Refsum, and P. M. Ueland Plasma Total Homocysteine and Hospitalizations for Cardiovascular Disease: The Hordaland Homocysteine Study Arch Intern Med, June 24, 2002; 162(12): 1374 - 1381. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Voortman, A. Melse-Boonstra, J. M. Schulz, J. Burema, M. B. Katan, and P. Verhoef Optimal Time Interval between Repeated Blood Sampling for Measurements of Total Homocysteine in Healthy Individuals Clin. Chem., October 1, 2001; 47(10): 1839 - 1841. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. C. McKinley, J.J. Strain, J. McPartlin, J. M. Scott, and H. McNulty Plasma Homocysteine Is Not Subject to Seasonal Variation Clin. Chem., August 1, 2001; 47(8): 1430 - 1436. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
