HEMOSTATIC FACTORS AND PREVALENT CORONARY HEART-DISEASE - THE FINRISK HEMOSTASIS STUDY

We examined the association of haemostatic factors with prevalent coronary heart disease (CHD) in the population-based FINRISK Haemostasis Study. Of the 2365 participants ages 45-64 years, 88 men and 44 women with prevalent CHD were identified. The participants with CHD were older and had lower high density lipoprotein cholesterol, higher triglycerides and higher body mass index than the participants without CHD. Men with CHD had significantly higher plasma fibrinogen (P < 0.0001, adjusted for age and smoking) and lipoprotein (a) (Lp (a), P = 0.001, adjusted for age) concentrations than those without CHD. Among women, the findings were consistent with those of men, but only fibrinogen reached the conventional level of statistical significance (P=0.04). No difference was observed in factor VII antigen, factor VII activity or in plasminogen. The association of Lp (a) with prevalent CHD was dependent on fibrinogen concentration (P=0.02 for the interaction-term) and on non-HDL cholesterol concentration (P=0.01 for the interaction-term). These cross-sectional results do not prove causality, but they demonstrate a considerable accumulation of prevalent CHD among persons with high Lp (a), fibrinogen and non-HDL chelesterol.