FAMILY HISTORY OF CORONARY HEART-DISEASE AND HEMOSTATIC VARIABLES IN MIDDLE-AGED ADULTS

Individuals with a family history of coronary heart disease (CHD) may be predisposed to atherothrombosis. To investigate this hypothesis, a family CHD risk score was computed for approximately 13,000 men and wo men aged 45 to 64; hemostatic variables (fibrinogen, factor VIIc, fact or VIIIc, von Willebrand factor, antithrombin III, protein C) were als o measured in plasma. After adjustment for age and ethnicity, there wa s a statistically significant, positive association between the family risk score and four of the six hemostatic variables (fibrinogen, fact or VIIc, factor VIIIc, von Willebrand factor) in women and all six hem ostatic variables in men. In general, these associations were weak and substantially attenuated after adjustment for constitutional, lifesty le, and biochemical covariates. These results indicate that mean level s of selected hemostatic variables, like traditional CHD risk factors, are higher in individuals with a family history of heart disease.