Homocysteine, vitamin B12, and folic acid levels in Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, and healthy elderly: Baseline characteristics in subjects of the Australian Imaging Biomarker Lifestyle study
Authors
Noel G. Faux
Kathryn A. Ellis
Lorine Porter
Chris J. Fowler
Simon M. Laws, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Ralph N. Martins, Edith Cowan University
Kelly K. Pertile
Alan Rembach
Chris C. Rowe
Rebecca L. Rumble
Cassandra Szoeke
Kevin Taddei, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Tania Taddei, Edith Cowan University
Brett O. Trounson
Victor Villemagne, L
Vanessa Ward, Edith Cowan University
David Ames
Colin Masters, L
Ashley Bush, I
Document Type
Journal Article
Faculty
Faculty of Computing, Health and Science
School
School of Medical Sciences / Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer's Disease Research and Care
RAS ID
13120
Abstract
There is some debate regarding the differing levels of plasma homocysteine, vitamin B12 and serum folate between healthy controls (HC), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease (AD). As part of the Australian Imaging Biomarker Lifestyle (AIBL) study of aging cohort, consisting of 1,112 participants (768 HC, 133 MCI patients, and 211 AD patients), plasma homocysteine, vitamin B12, and serum and red cell folate were measured at baseline to investigate their levels, their inter-associations, and their relationships with cognition. The results of this cross-sectional study showed that homocysteine levels were increased in female AD patients compared to female HC subjects (+16%, p-value < 0.001), but not in males. Red cell folate, but not serum folate, was decreased in AD patients compared to HC (−10%, p-value = 0.004). Composite z-scores of short- and long-term episodic memory, total episodic memory, and global cognition all showed significant negative correlations with homocysteine, in all clinical categories. Increasing red cell folate had a U-shaped association with homocysteine, so that high red cell folate levels were associated with worse long-term episodic memory, total episodic memory, and global cognition. These findings underscore the association of plasma homocysteine with cognitive deterioration, although not unique to AD, and identified an unexpected abnormality of red cell folate.
DOI
10.3233/JAD-2011-110752
Access Rights
subscription content
Comments
Faux, N. G., Ellis, K. A., Porter, L., Fowler, C. J., Laws, S. M., Martins, R. N., ... & Szoeke, C. (2011). Homocysteine, vitamin B12, and folic acid levels in Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, and healthy elderly: Baseline characteristics in subjects of the Australian Imaging Biomarker Lifestyle study. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 27(4), 909-922.
Available here.