Insulin resistance is not related to plasma homocysteine concentration in healthy premenopausal women

Abstract

This study was performed to test whether plasma homocysteine concentrations are related to insulin resistance in healthy premenopausal women. For this purpose, the relationship between insulin resistance (as assessed by HOMA index) and fasting plasma homocysteine level was determined in 83 healthy volunteers. The results indicated that homocysteine concentrations did not vary as a function of HOMA index (r = -0.147). Plasma homocysteine concentrations also did not vary as a function of other parameters of insulin resistance such as HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides, which they correlated inversely with body mass index (BMI). Furthermore, when individuals were classified according to quartiles of insulin resistance (HOMA index), plasma homocysteine concentrations from the lowest to the highest quartiles were not significantly different. On the other hand, the HOMA index correlated significantly with triglyceride concentrations (r = 0.377, p < 0.001), HDL-cholesterol (r = -0.310, p < 0.01) and BMI (r = 0.468, p < 0.001). These results suggest that plasma homocysteine concentrations are not related to insulin resistance and/or metabolic abnormalities associated with it in premenopausal women.