Association between serum homocysteine and arterial stiffness in patients with Behçet’s disease

Subclinical atherosclerosis in Behcet's disease and its inverse relation to azathioprine use: an updated meta-analysis

To evaluate the intima media thickness of carotid arteries (IMT) and its clinical, laboratory and treatment correlates in Behcet's disease (BD). Systematic search of EMBASE and PubMed databases from January 2016 to October 2022; we employed random effect meta-analyses for continuous outcomes and Peto's odds ratio for rare events. The meta-analysis included 36 case control studies: the IMT was greater in BD (n = 1103) than in controls (n = 832) (p < 0.0001) with wide heterogeneity (I2 = 86.9%); a sensitivity analysis that included mean age of BD participants, gender, disease duration and activity, atherogenic index of plasma, blood pressure, C-reactive protein, ethnicity, smoking status, anti-inflammatory and immune suppressive agents, revealed that male gender, mean age of participants and azathioprine use (the latter two in inverse fashion) partly explained the heterogeneity variance (p = 0.02, p = 0.005, and p = 0.01). The IMT was greater in vascular (n = 114) than in non-vascular BD (n = 214) (p = 0.006). BD patients (n = 782) had a greater pooled prevalence of carotid plaques than controls (n = 537) (13.1% vs. 2.97%, p < 0.0001). Subclinical carotid artery atherosclerosis represents a vascular feature of BD, independently of the traditional cardiovascular risk factors. The inverse correlations between IMT, age and azathioprine use suggest that thicker carotid arteries at disease onset eventually regress with immune suppressive treatment: this assumption needs verification on adequately designed clinical trials.

Plasma Homocysteine in Behcet's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

AIM

 To evaluate the relevance of plasma homocysteine (HC) in Behcet's disease (BD) and its clinical manifestations.

METHODS

 Systematic review of EMBASE and PubMed databases according to PRISMA guidelines from inception to July 2021; random-effects meta-analyses for continuous outcomes.

RESULTS

 The search strategy retrieved 48 case-control (2,669 BD and 2,245 control participants) and 5 cohort studies (708 BD participants). Plasma HC was higher in BD than in controls (p < 0.0001) with wide heterogeneity (I2  = 89.7%) that remained unchanged after sensitivity analysis according to year of article publication, age of BD participants, study size, study quality, method of HC determination, and male/female ratio >1.5; some pooled ethnicities explained a small part of the heterogeneity (I2  = 16.3%). Active BD participants had higher HC than inactive ones (p < 0.0001), with moderate heterogeneity (I2  = 49.2%) that disappeared after removal of an outlier study with very high disease activity. BD participants with any vascular involvement had higher HC than those without (p < 0.0001) with wide heterogeneity (I2  = 89.7%); subgroup analysis on venous thrombosis only changed neither effect size (p < 0.0001) nor heterogeneity (I2  = 72.7%). BD participants with ocular involvement had higher HC than those without (p < 0.0001) with moderate heterogeneity (I2  = 40.3%).

CONCLUSION

 Although causality cannot be inferred, the consistency of the elevation of plasma HC in BD, particularly in patients with active disease, with vascular and ocular involvement suggests an intrinsic involvement of HC in these clinical manifestations.

The relationships of serum homocysteine levels and traditional lipid indicators with disease activity and coronary artery involvement in Takayasu arteritis

Serum homocysteine (HCY) levels have been associated with the occurrence of coronary stenosis and disease activity in large-vessel vasculitis. However, whether increases in serum HCY levels and traditional lipid indicators are associated with coronary artery involvement and disease activity in Chinese Han Takayasu arteritis (TA) patients is unknown. This study aims to investigate the clinical and laboratory features of TA by assessing their association with disease activity in TA patients, and to explore the risk factors associated with coronary artery involvement in these patients. Serum HCY levels and traditional lipid indicators were tested in one hundred ninety TA patients and one hundred fifty-four healthy controls. We analyzed the relationships of serum HCY levels and traditional lipid indicators with disease activity and analyzed the risk factors for coronary artery involvement. Twenty-one TA patients were found to have coronary artery stenosis (≥ 50%). TA patients had significantly higher levels of HCY than did healthy controls (p < 0.0001). Serum levels of HCY and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C); the ratios of LDL-C to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), total cholesterol (TC) to HDL-C, and triglycerides (TG) to HDL-C; and the values of atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) were significantly higher in patients with active TA than in patients with inactive TA and in TA patients with coronary artery involvement than in TA patients without coronary artery involvement. By contrast, the serum levels of HDL-C were significantly lower in patients with active TA than in patients with inactive TA and in TA patients with coronary artery involvement than in TA patients without coronary artery involvement (p < 0.05). In addition, the serum levels of TC and TG were significantly higher in TA patients with coronary artery involvement than those in TA patients without coronary artery involvement. Elevated serum HCY levels increased the risk of coronary artery involvement by 1.3-fold (p = 0.011, odds ratio [OR] = 1.275, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.056-1.539), and the cutoff value for serum HCY was 9.55 μmol/L. Elevated serum TG levels increased the risk of coronary artery involvement by 3.5-fold (p < 0.0001, OR = 3.534, 95% CI: 1.907-6.547), and the cutoff value for serum TG was 1.215 mmol/L. The risk of coronary artery involvement was 2.5-fold higher when an elevated TG/HDL-C ratio was present (p < 0.0001, OR = 2.513, 95% CI: 1.567-4.032). This study showed that serum HCY and TG levels and the TG/HDL-C ratio are independent risk factors for coronary artery involvement in TA patients.