A study conducted by Dexeus Mujer, and led by Dr Pascual García Alfaro, head of the Menopause Unit, analysed whether high homocysteine levels can cause the loss of muscle mass and handgrip strength that is characteristic of postmenopausal women.

To find out, the Dexeus Mujer team conducted a sub-analysis of a prospective cohort of 303 postmenopausal women aged 62.7 ± 6.9 years who had their handgrip strength (HGS) measured with a digital dynamometer as the primary outcome, and plasma homocysteine and creatinine levels and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) measurements as secondary outcomes.

According to the results, 29.4% of women had dynapenia, they had 40.3 ± 5.4% adiposity, and 9.57% of women had hyperhomocysteinemia. There were no differences between homocysteine and HGS tertiles.

Plasma homocysteine levels were not related to HGS but correlated with age, GFR and creatinine. Hyperhomocysteinaemia was not associated with HGS or dynapenia. The risk of low HGS was not significantly associated with homocysteine but instead with age, adiposity, and creatinine.

The authors concluded that HGS and dynapenia were not related to hyperhomocysteinemia. In contrast, age, GFR, and creatinine were significantly associated with plasma homocysteine levels.