J. Valek et al., INCREASED FIBRINOGEN LEVELS IN THE OFFSPRING OF HYPERTENSIVE MEN - RELATION WITH HYPERINSULINEMIA AND THE METABOLIC SYNDROME, Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology, 15(12), 1995, pp. 2229-2233
Epidemiological studies have revealed that elevated fibrinogen concent
rations are associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction
, stroke, intermittent claudication, and cardiovascular mortality. The
manner in which fibrinogen operates in atherogenesis has not yet been
elucidated, but genetic control of fibrinogen levels is partially res
ponsible. Fibrinogen frequently acts in concert with hyperlipidemia, d
iabetes, hypertension, physical inactivity, and age, variables that ar
e influenced by insulin action. Because the offspring of hypertensive
men tend to be hyperinsulinemic and insulin resistant from a young age
, we hypothesized that their increased fibrinogen levels might reflect
decreased insulin action and thus play a role in the metabolic syndro
me. We chose 48 adult offspring (mean age, 38.4 years) of 30 fathers w
ho had been treated for hypertension, and the former were matched by a
ge, body mass index, sex, and smoking habits with 37 control subjects.
Elevations in fibrinogen concentration (3.63+/-0.93 versus 2.87+/-0.5
4 g/L, P<.001) paralleled increases in blood glucose and insulin level
s, estimates of insulin resistance, and blood pressure. In the offspri
ng, in contrast to the control group, correlations between fibrinogen
and metabolic-syndrome variables (ie, insulin, glucose, and waist and
hip circumferences) were found. In stepwise multiple regression analys
es, age and smoking habits were entered as variables in both study gro
ups, but postload insulin and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol wer
e entered as variables in the offspring group only. We propose that fa
milial predisposition influences the relationship between insulin conc
entration and fibrinogen, an effect that may contribute to the clinica
l importance of the metabolic syndrome.