Table 2.
Characteristics of the study subjects according to serum homocysteine and folate concentrations
| Variables | Homocysteine (μmol/L) |
Folate (ng/mL) |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hcy ≤ 15 | 15 < Hcy ≤ 30 | 30 < Hcy | p | Fol < 3.0 | 3.0 ≤ Fol < 17.0 | 17.0 ≤ Fol | p | |
| N | 653 | 192 | 17 | 26 | 746 | 90 | ||
| Age | 70.6 ± 4.9 | 72.8 ± 5.6 | 73.8 ± 5.2 | <0.001 | 72.6 ± 5.0 | 71.1 ± 5.2 | 70.9 ± 5.0 | 0.314 |
| Male/female | 247/406 | 120/72 | 12/5 | <0.001 | 20/6 | 323/423 | 36/54 | 0.002 |
| Education | 7.4 ± 5.1 | 7.5 ± 5.1 | 8.1 ± 5.5 | 0.815 | 7.6 ± 4.6 | 7.2 ± 5.1 | 8.7 ± 5.4 | 0.028 |
| Folate | 10.3 ± 6.9 | 6.6 ± 4.2 | 4.5 ± 3.9 | <0.001 | 2.5 ± 0.3 | 7.7 ± 3.1 | 24.8 ± 7.9 | <0.001 |
| Vitamin B12 | 738.0 ± 299.8 | 599.2 ± 283.1 | 446.4 ± 226.7 | <0.001 | 531.6 ± 294.3 | 689.3 ± 280.5 | 850.2 ± 411.2 | <0.001 |
| Hcy | 11.3 ± 2.1 | 18.5 ± 3.1 | 37.7 ± 8.1 | <0.001 | 23.7 ± 9.8 | 13.4 ± 4.7 | 11.0 ± 3.6 | <0.001 |
| MCI | 297 | 79 | 6 | 0.973 | 14 | 336 | 32 | 0.040 |
| Dementia | 24 | 28 | 4 | <0.001 | 4 | 49 | 3 | 0.020 |
| CERAD score | 62.5 ± 13.0 | 57.0 ± 15.7 | 55.3 ± 16.6 | <0.001 | 53.8 ± 14.8 | 60.9 ± 14.0 | 64.6 ± 11.9 | 0.002 |
The p values were calculated using analysis of covariance or χ2 test. Bold values are p < 0.05.
The concentration ranges for Hcy and folate were set according to Refs 26 and 27, respectively.
Hcy = homocysteine; Fol = folate; MCI = mild cognitive impairment; CERAD = Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease.