Fibrinogen Plasma Levels in an Apparently Healthy General Population – Relation to Environmental and Genetic Determinants

Abstract

Elevated fibrinogen levels are an independent risk factor for cardiovascular ischemic disease. We investigated the relationship between cardiovascular ischemic risk factors, the fibrinogen Bbeta-chain G/A(-455) polymorphism and plasma fibrinogen levels in 989 apparently healthy subjects. Fibrinogen values were higher in subjects with C reactive protein (C-RP) >0.33 mg/dl, BMI >23.9 kg/m2, total cholesterol >4.84 mmol/l, triglycerides > 1.02 mmol/l, PAI-1 antigen >12.2 ng/ml, carriers of the A allele, first-degree relative history of coronary artery disease, or consuming >10 cigarettes per day (p<0.01). Men and ethanol drinkers showed lower plasma fibrinogen levels (p<0.01). The multivariate analysis confirmed the independent effect of C-RP, age, BMI, total cholesterol, gender, PAI-1, -455 G/A polymorphism, (p<0.05). BMI, total cholesterol, PAI-1, alcohol and smoking habit raised with the increase of age and differed between sexes. The A(-455) allele increasing effect was significant in women, especially in subjects aged <30 years, and in men aged <43 years. These results indicate that environmental factors contributed to a larger extent to fibrinogen variability, whereas the A(-455) allele was associated with a steeper increase in younger age quartiles.