PMID: 8605683Apr 1, 1996Paper

Age- and gender-specific reference intervals for total homocysteine and methylmalonic acid in plasma before and after vitamin supplementation

Clinical Chemistry
K RasmussenL Dybkjaer

Abstract

We present reference intervals for total homocysteine and methylmalonic acid in plasma based on samples from 126 women (ages 20-85 years, median 49 years) and 109 men (ages 20-84 years, median 50 years). The central 0.95 interval for methylmalonic acid was 0.08-0.28 micromol/L. Supplementation with cyanocobalamin caused a nonsignificant decrease in methylmalonic acid. Supplementation with folic acid caused a decrease in homocysteine concentrations, with data analysis identifying two significantly different clusters: 182 subjects with the lowest initial concentrations (7.76 +/- 1.54 micromol/L, mean +/- SD) and the smallest decrease (1.26 +/- 0.96 micromol/L), and 53 subjects with the highest initial concentrations (12.33 +/- 2.04 micromol/L) and greatest decrease (4.14 +/- 1.32 micromol/L). We argue in favor of the age- and gender-specific central 0.95 intervals obtained for the 182 subjects before being supplemented with folic acid: 4.6-8.1 micromol/L for subjects at <30 years; 4.5-7.9 micromol/L for women, ages 30-59 years; 6.3-11.2 micromol/L for men, ages 30-59 years; and 5.8-11.9 micromol/L for subjects at >60 years.

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