Comparison of Abbott IMx total homocysteine assay with a high pressure liquid chromatography method for the measurement of total homocysteine in plasma and serum from a Norwegian population.

In this study 189 samples were analysed for the measurement of homocysteine by the Abbott IMx homocysteine assay and an HPLC method. A strong correlation was obtained between the homocysteine measurements performed by the Abbott IMx homocysteine assay and the HPLC method (coefficient of correlation, r2 = 0.947, p < 0.0001). The plot of the difference for the homocysteine measurements between the two methods against the average of the two measurements resulted a mean difference of 0.80 +/- 6.66 (mean +/- 2SD), and 0.008 +/- 0.126 (mean +/- 2SD) for log converted values of homocysteine. The concentrations of homocysteine measured in all the samples by the two methods were not significantly different. However, the Abbott IMx homocysteine assay measured the concentrations of total homocysteine in hyperhomocysteinemia as significantly higher than the HPLC method (25.00 micromol/l vs. 23.12 micromol/l, p < 0.0001). More studies may be required to explore factors that may influence measurements of homocysteine by the Abbott IMx homocysteine assay and the HPLC method.