Association of homocysteine with type 1 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis

Purpose: To figure out the association between plasma Hcy status and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

Methods: We searched the PubMed Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library to identify eligible studies. The Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale was used to assess the quality of selected studies. All analyses were performed using the STATA, version 12 software.

Results: 15 studies were included in this investigation. Our meta-analysis indicated that plasma Hcy concentrations in T1DM patients without any complications were normal compared with healthy people [13 studies, SMD: -0.08, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.44 to 0.28, P=0.67]. However, a significant elevation of plasma Hcy concentrations was observed in T1DM patients with only diabetic retinopathy (DR) (5 studies, SMD: 0.34, 95% CI: 0.13 to 0.55, P=0.002), only diabetic nephropathy (DN) (4 studies, SMD: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.18 to 1.33, P=0.01) and both the two complications (3 studies, SMD: 1.05, 95% CI: 0.03 to 2.07, P=0.043) compared with T1DM patients without any complications.

Conclusions: Homocysteine levels elevate in T1DM patients with DR and DN, but don't elevate in T1DM without any complications.