Abstract： Objective To explore the relation between homocysteinemia (HCY) and carotid artery plaque.Methods Subjects were derived from a cohort of Kailuan study,which was a community-based and cross-sectional.From June 2010 to June 2011,a total of 5852 subjects were selected from 101 510 working or retired employees at the Tangshan Kailuan Company in 2006-2007.Data was extracted from the results of health examination on the employees.Selecting process was carried out by those staff working on the clinical trials on stroke and from the research center of Tiantan Hospital,Capital Medical University.Subjects who were beyond 40 years of age but without histories as previous stroke,transient ischemic attack (TIA) or myocardial infarction were included and identified,to take part in the study through stratified random sampling.Finally,5440 eligible subjects were enrolled and data from 5377 subjects were analyzed.All the information was obtained through unified questionnaire,blood tests and carotid artery ultrasonography.Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the factors related to carotid artery plagues.Results ( 1 )The baseline results showed that the average age of the subjects (n=5377) was 55.18± 11.78 years old with 3215 as males.All the subjects were divided into three groups by tertbiles of HCY,with 1771 subjects in the first quantile group ( HCY ＜ 1 1.00 μmol/L ),1814 in the second quantile group ( 11.00-16.98 μmol/L)and 1792 in the third quantile group( ≥ 16.98 μmol/L).2300 subjects were identified as having carotid artery plaques.(2)The prevalence rates of carotid artery plaques in the three groups were 29.9％,43.3％ and 55.0％ respectively.(3) Afar multivariable adjustment,the third quantile HCY was still serving as a risk factor,affecting the formation of carotid artery plaques,with the OR values as 1.344 (95％CI:1.134-1.594).Conclusion High HCY was related to the increased prevalence of carotid artery plaque and thus served as a risk factor for carotid artery plaque.