Elevated fibrinogen linked to preclinical cardiovascular damage
Last Updated: 2001-12-04 9:50:37 EST (Reuters Health)
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) - Elevated plasma fibrinogen, already associated with overt cardiovascular disease, also appears to correlate with preclinical cardiovascular target organ damage, according to findings published in the November issue of Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Dr. Vittorio Palmieri, of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, and colleagues examined clinical and echocardiographic findings in relation to fibrinogen levels in 2709 American Indians enrolled in the Strong Heart Study. All participants were free of clinically overt cardiovascular disease.
The group was divided into tertiles according to their fibrinogen levels (< 3.24 g/L, 3.24-3.83 g/L, > 3.83 g/L). After controlling for other risk factors, subjects in the highest tertile for fibrinogen were significantly (p < 0.001) more likely than those in lower tertiles "to have at least one preclinical cardiovascular abnormality such as left ventricular hypertrophy, elevated arterial stiffness, or systolic myocardial dysfunction," the investigators report, with an odds ratio of 1.38.
The team also identified a link between fibrinogen and renal dysfunction after controlling for major covariates.
The findings suggest that "elevated fibrinogen may be a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis, endothelial dysfunction, and microvascular disease with involvement of the renal and cardiac activation of the renin-angiotensin system, in turn strongly related to left ventricular and vascular hypertrophy and fibrosis," the authors surmise.
Hypertension 2001;38:1068-1074 |
