Plasma total cysteine and cardiovascular risk burden: action and interaction.

We hypothesized that redox analysis could provide sensitive markers of the oxidative pathway associated to the presence of an increasing number of cardiovascular risk factors (RFs), independently of type. We classified 304 subjects without cardiovascular disease into 4 groups according to the total number of RFs (smoking, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, hyperhomocysteinaemia, diabetes, obesity, and their combination). Oxidative stress was evaluated by measuring plasma total and reduced homocysteine, cysteine (Cys), glutathione, cysteinylglycine, blood reduced glutathione, and malondialdehyde.