The following are the most important diseases or complications that may be contributed to by hyperhomocysteinemia:
Eyes and ocular appendages (H00-H59).
- Macular degeneration – degenerative disease of the macula lutea (yellow spot of the retina).
Cardiovascular system (I00-I99).
- Apoplexy (stroke)
- Atherosclerosis – Homocysteine is considered an independent risk factor for vascular disease; may lead to the following:
- Peripheral arterial occlusive disease (pAVD) – progressive narrowing or occlusion of the arteries supplying the arms/ (more commonly) legs, usually due to atherosclerosis (arteriosclerosis, hardening of the arteries).
- Increased risk of thrombosis (deep vein thrombosis, TBVT) – damage to the inner vessel walls (endothelium) and inactivation of the so-called protein C, which inhibits blood clotting. At the same time, there is activation of factor V of blood clotting, which promotes it. Thus, there is an increased risk of thrombosis, with the possible consequence of cardiovascular events – primarily as a heart attack (myocardial infarction), stroke (apoplexy) – or peripheral arterial occlusive disease (pAVK).
- Coronary artery disease (CAD; coronary artery disease))
- Pulmonary embolism – partial or complete obstruction of a pulmonary artery, mainly due to pelvic-leg thrombosis (about 90% of cases).
- Thrombosis – vascular disease in which a thrombus (blood clot) forms in a vessel.
- Thrombophlebitis – inflammation of a vein, which leads to thrombosis (occlusion of the vein).
Mouth, esophagus (esophagus), stomach, and intestines (K00-K67; K90-K93).
- Osteoporosis (bone loss)
Psyche – nervous system (F00-F99; G00-G99)
- Erectile dysfunction (ED) – erectile dysfunction; chronic medical condition of at least 6 months’ duration in which at least 70% of attempts to engage in sexual intercourse are unsuccessful
- Vascular dementia
- Mild cognitive impairment (LKB; mild cognitive impairment, MCI; age forgetfulness; age-associated memory impairment (AAMI); age-associated memory impairment).
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Transient ischemic attack (TIA) – sudden onset of circulatory disturbance in the brain leading to neurological dysfunction, which resolves within 24 hours.
Pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium (O00-O99).
- Abortion (miscarriage)
- Hyperhomocysteinemia is thought to be associated with neural tube defect in the fetus (malformation of the central nervous system in the unborn child)
