FIBRINOGEN LEVEL AS A PREDICTOR OF MORTALITY IN SURVIVORS OF MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

In 70 patients who had had a myocardial infarction 4-5 years previously, the levels of fibrinogen, plasminogen and activator activity were measured. At the time of these assays their coronary disease was stable. An independent correlation between the fibrinogen level and subsequent mortality within the following 5 years was found, over and above the effects of age, and smoking. There was a 69% increase in the risk of death associated with a one standard deviation increase in fibrinogen. A significant interaction with smoking was also found. An increase of one standard deviation in fibrinogen resulted in a relative risk of 2.86 in smokers.