Abstract :
Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a chronic disease and a global health problem, affecting
one-third of the world’s population. Recently it has been found that the traditional risk factors of CAD
do not account for the total risk. One of the novel risk markers of CAD is Asymmetric dimethylarginine
(ADMA), which inhibits the enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS), which is required for the synthesis of
nitric oxide (NO), a potent vasodilator. Increased ADMA level causes decrease in NO level which will lead
to endothelial dysfunction, an underlying causative mechanism for CAD development. ADMA is found
to be an independent cardiovascular risk factor. Therefore ADMA may become an additional biochemical
parameter to identify those patients who are at higher risk for developing CAD, besides the traditional
parameters used.
Aim: To study the association between serum ADMA level with coronary artery disease.
Materials and Methods: The study design is a case-control study. 80 subjects from the south Indian
population between 30 to 60 years of age, of both the sexes were included in the study. Out of them,
40 individuals were angiographically proven cases of CAD from the department of cardiology and 40
healthy individuals from the master health check up department. Various parameters like lipid profile,
serum ADMA, blood pressure and BMI were measured in both the groups. The data were collected and
analyzed.
Result: The ADMA level was found to be significantly elevated in the case group compared with the age
matched healthy controls (p value < 0>
Conclusion: There is a positive correlation between serum ADMA level and coronary artery disease.
Keyword :
Asymmetric dimethylarginine(ADMA), Coronary artery disease, Nitric oxide, Endothelial dysfunction, L-Arginine, Nitric oxide synthase.