HEMOSTATIC FACTORS AND PREVALENT CORONARY HEART-DISEASE - THE FINRISKHEMOSTASIS STUDY

We examined the association of haemostatic factors with prevalent coro nary heart disease (CHD) in the population-based FINRISK Haemostasis S tudy. Of the 2365 participants ages 45-64 years, 88 men and 44 women w ith prevalent CHD were identified. The participants with CHD were olde r and had lower high density lipoprotein cholesterol, higher triglycer ides and higher body mass index than the participants without CHD. Men with CHD had significantly higher plasma fibrinogen (P < 0.0001, adju sted for age and smoking) and lipoprotein (a) (Lp (a), P = 0.001, adju sted for age) concentrations than those without CHD. Among women, the findings were consistent with those of men, but only fibrinogen reache d the conventional level of statistical significance (P=0.04). No diff erence was observed in factor VII antigen, factor VII activity or in p lasminogen. 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). T hese cross-sectional results do not prove causality, but they demonstr ate a considerable accumulation of prevalent CHD among persons with hi gh Lp (a), fibrinogen and non-HDL chelesterol.