TY - JOUR
TI - Homocysteine and folate levels in postmenopausal women
AU - Christodoulakos, G
AU - Panoulis, C
AU - Rizos, D
AU - Moustakarias, T and
AU - Phocas, I
AU - Creatsas, G
JO - Maturitas
PY - 2001
VL - 39
TODO - 2
SP - 161-167
PB - Elsevier Ireland Ltd
SN - 0378-5122
TODO - 10.1016/S0378-5122(01)00207-9
TODO - menopause; homocysteine; folate; cardiovascular disease
TODO - Objectives: To assess total homocysteine (tHcy) and folate levels in
postmenopausal women and investigate whether age, menopause duration,
kind of menopause and tobacco use had an effect on these levels.
Methods: Total homocysteine and folate levels were measured in fasting
blood samples of 200 postmenopausal women with normal thyroid and renal
function tests. Patients were not receiving vitamins or hormone
replacement therapy. Results: Total homocysteine levels increased
significantly after 60 years while folate levels showed a decrease trend
after 65 years. Menopause duration had no effect on folate levels and
increased significantly tHcy levels after > 180 months duration. The
kind of menopause did not influence tHcy and folate levels. Tobacco use
reduced significantly folate levels. Conclusions: Age seems to be the
principal factor influencing tHcy levels. We believe that decreased
folate levels also reflect an age-associated inadequate dietary intake.
Tobacco use did not alter tHcy levels; however, we found smoking to
lower folate levels. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights
reserved.
ER -