Journal Article

Serum Taurine and Stroke Risk in Women: A Prospective, Nested Case-Control Study

Jonas, Saran, Koenig, Karen L., Afanasyeva, Yelena, Wójcik, Oktawia P., Costa, Max, Chen, Yu, Wu, Fen, Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne

2016

Overview

Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid), a conditionally essential sulfur-containing amino acid, is mainly obtained from diet in humans. Experimental studies have shown that taurine's main biological actions include bile salt conjugation, blood pressure regulation, anti-oxidation, and anti-inflammation. We conducted a prospective case-control study nested in the New York University Women's Health Study, a cohort study involving 14,274 women enrolled since 1985. Taurine was measured in pre-diagnostic serum samples of 241 stroke cases and 479 matched controls. There was no statistically significant association between serum taurine and stroke risk in the overall study population. The adjusted ORs for stroke were 1.0 (reference), 0.87 (95% CI, 0.59-1.28), and 1.03 (95% CI, 0.69-1.54) in increasing tertiles of taurine (64.3-126.6, 126.7-152.9, and 153.0-308.5 nmol/mL, respectively). A significant inverse association between serum taurine and stroke risk was observed among never smokers, with an adjusted OR of 0.66 (95% CI, 0.37-1.18) and 0.50 (95% CI, 0.26-0.94) for the second and third tertile, respectively (p for trend = 0.01), but not among past or current smokers (p for interaction < 0.01). We observed no overall association between serum taurine and stroke risk, although a protective effect was observed in never smokers, which requires further investigation. Taurine, Stroke, Epidemiology, Prospective, Case-control study, NYUWHS.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Acids / Adult / Aged / Amino acids / Anti-Inflammatory Agents - chemistry / Antioxidants - chemistry / Bile / Bile Acids and Salts - chemistry / Biology and Life Sciences / Blood & organ donations / Blood Pressure / Cancer / Cardiovascular disease / Case studies / Case-Control Studies / Conjugation / Diabetes / Diagnostic systems / Diet / Endarterectomy, Carotid / Epidemiology / Female / Health risk assessment / Health risks / Humans / Hypertension / Inflammation / Medical records / Medical screening / Medicine / Medicine and Health Sciences / Metabolism / Middle Aged / Nutrition research / Oxidation / Population / Population studies / Postmenopause / Prospective Studies / Questionnaires / Risk / Risk Factors / Salts / Smoking / Statistical analysis / Statistical methods / Stroke / Stroke - blood / Stroke - complications / Stroke - diagnosis / Stroke - prevention & control / Studies / Sulfur / Sulfur compounds / Surveys and Questionnaires / Taurine / Taurine - blood / Womens health