8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine levels and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature

The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays a relevant role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and of cardiovascular disease (CVD). High levels of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a biomarker of oxidative damage of DNA have been found in patients with cardiovascular risk factors.

We performed a meta-analysis of literature to investigate the association among 8-OHdG levels and CVD. Methods A systematic search was performed in the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, EMBASE databases without any language or publication year restriction. The reference lists of all retrieved articles were manually reviewed. All studies evaluating 8-OHdG levels in CVD patients and controls were included.

Differences among cases and controls were expressed as mean difference (MD) or standard men difference (SMD) with pertinent 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Impact of clinical and demographic features on effect size was assessed by meta-regression.

8-OHdG levels are higher in patients with CVD than in controls. However, larger prospective studies are needed to test 8-OHdG as a predictor of CVD.