Hyperhomocysteinemia is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, especially in non-insulindependent diabetes mellitus: a population-based study. Arterioscler Thromb

blindness among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Hyperhomocysteinemia is a recently recognized risk factor for cardiovascular disease, independent of established risk factors. Objective: To study the association between the ho-mocysteine level and retinopathy among subjects with and without DM. Methods: We studied an age-, sex-, and glucose toler-ance–stratified random sample of a 50- to 75-year-old gen-eral white population in the Hoorn Study (N=625). Reti-nal vascular changes (retinopathy) were assessed using ophthalmoscopy and/or fundus photography. Hyperho-mocysteinemia was defined as a serum total homocys-teine level greater than 16 µmol/L. Results: The prevalence of retinopathy was 9.8 % (28