Long-term diuretic therapy in hypertensive patients:: Effects on serum homocysteine, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and red blood cell folate concentrations

Background, The effects of chronic diuretic use on serum homocysteine and its metabolic cofactors vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, and red blood cell (RBC) folate have not been well studied. Methods, Blood samples from 17 hypertensive patients receiving long-term diuretic therapy and 17 hypertensive patients not taking diuretics were analyzed for serum homocysteine, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, and RBC folate. Results, The mean serum homocysteine concentration for patients taking diuretics (17.87 +/- 1.12 mu mol/L) was significantly higher than the mean serum homocysteine concentration or patients not taking diuretics (10.31 +/- 0.99 mu mol/L). The mean RBC folate concentration for patients taking diuretics (281.01 +/- 17.56 ng/mL) was significantly lower than the mean RBC folate concentration for patients not taking diuretics (430.85 +/- 28.58 ng/mL). Serum vitamin B-6 and vitamin B-12 concentrations were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions, Chronic diuretic use is associated with a significant increase in serum homocysteine concentration, a significant decrease in RBC folate concentration, and no significant change in concentrations of vitamins B-6 and B-12.