Abstract
The aim of the study was to assess the association between fibrinogen and other cardiovascular risk factors. A cross-sectional population-based study in Gerona (Spain) was designed, 1544 subjects (747 men, 797 women) participated. Anthropometric measurements, blood pressure and blood samples were obtained. Fibrinogen was measured by a coagulometric method. Smoking habits, alcohol consumption and physical activity practice were recorded by questionnaires. Fibrinogen was directly related to age, body mass index (BMI) and female gender and inversely to alcohol and moderate–heavy physical activity practice. Fibrinogen was also higher in men and young women who smoked. In the multivariate analysis, age (regression coefficient (RC): 1.33; standard error (SE): 0.13; unit = 1 year), female gender (RC: 12.24; SE: 3.56) and BMI (RC: 1.83; SE: 0.39; unit = 1 kg/m2) were directly associated with fibrinogen, whereas alcohol (RC: −0.04; SE: 0.01; unit = 1 g/d) was inversely associated. A statistically significant interaction between smoking and age was observed. Age was the strongest variable associated with fibrinogen and modifies the association between smoking and fibrinogen; the magnitude of this association increases with age.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wilhelmsen L, Svardsudd K, Korsan-Bengtsen K, et al. Fibrinogen as a risk factor for stroke and myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med 1984; 311: 501–505.
Kannel WB, Wolf PA, Castelli WP, et al. Fibrinogen and risk of cardiovascular disease: The Framingham Study. JAMA 1987; 258: 1183–1186.
Ernst E, Resch KL. Fibrinogen as cardiovascular risk factor: A meta-analysis and review of the literature. Ann Intern Med 1993; 118: 965–963.
Danesh J, Collins R, Appleby P, et al. Association of fibrinogen, C-reactive protein, albumin, or leukocyte count with coronary heart disease: Meta-analyses of prospective studies. JAMA 1998; 279: 1477–1482.
Van der Born JG, De Maat MPM, Bots ML, et al. Elevated plasma fibrinogen. Cause or consequence of cardiovascular disease? Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 1998; 18: 621–625.
Ma J, Hennekens CH, Ridker PM, et al. A prospective study of fibrinogen and risk of myocardial infarction in the Physicians’ Health Study. J Am Coll Cardiol 1999; 33: 1347–1352.
Manucci PM. Recent progress in the pathophysiology of fibrinogen. Eur Heart J 1995; 16(Suppl A): 25–30.
Folsom AR, Qamhieh HT, Flack JM for the investigators of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in YoungAdults (CARDIA) Study. Plasma fibrinogen: Levels and correlates in youngadults. Am J Epidemiol 1993; 138: 1023–1036.
Krobot K, Hense HW, Cremer P, et al. Determinants of plasma fibrinogen: Relation to body weight, waistto-hip ratio, smoking, alcohol, age, sex: Results from the second MONICA Augsburg Survey 1989–1990. Arterioscler Thromb 1992; 12: 780–788.
Lee AJ, Smith WCS, Lowe GDO, et al. Plasma fibrinogen and coronary risk factors: The Scottish Heart Health Study. J Clin Epidemiol 1990; 43: 913–919.
Eliasson M, Evrin PE, Lundbald D, et al. Influence of gender and sampling time on plasma fibrinolytic variables and fibrinogen. Fibrinolysis 1993; 7: 316–323.
Balleisen L, Bailey J, Epping PH, et al. Epidemiological study on factor VII, factor VIII and fibrinogen in an industrial population. I. Baseline data on the relation to age, gender, body weight, smoking, alcohol, pill-using and menopause. Throm Haemost 1985; 54: 475–479.
Kannel WB, D'Agostino RB, Belanger AJ. Fibrinogen, cigarette smoking, and risk of cardiovascular disease: Insights from the Framingham Study. Am Heart J 1987; 113: 1006–1010.
Rankinen T, Rauramaa R, Vaisanen S, et al. Inverse relationship between physical activity and plasma fibrinogen in postmenopausal women. Atherosclerosis 1993; 102: 181–186.
McAuley D, McCrum EE, Stott G, et al. Physical activity, physical fitness, blood pressure and fibrinogen in the Northern Ireland health and activity survey. J Epidemiol Community Health 1996; 50: 258–263.
Vaisanen S, Rauramaa R, Rankinen T, et al. Physical activity, fitness, and plasma fibrinogen with reference to fibrinogen genotypes. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1996; 28: 1165–1170.
Mennen LI, Balkau B, Vol S, et al. Fibrinogen: A possible link between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease? DESIR Study Group. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 1999; 19: 887–892.
Behague I, Pionier O, Nicaud V, et al. B-fibrinogen gene polymorphisms are associated with plasma fibrinogen and coronary artery disease in patients with myocardial infarction. Circulation 1996; 93: 440–449.
Scarabin PY, Bara L, Ricard S, et al. Genetic variation at the b-fibrinogen locus in relation to plasma concentrations and risk of myocardial infarction. Arterioscler Thromb 1993; 13: 886–891.
Thomas A, Lamlum H, Humphries S, et al. Linkage disequilibrium across the fibrinogen locus as shown by five genetic polymorphisms. G/A-455 (HaeIII), C/T-148 (HindIII/AluI), T/G-1689 (AvaII), and BC1I (b-fibrinogen) and TaqI (a-fibrinogen), and their detection by PCR. Hum Mutat 1994; 3: 79–81.
Folsom AR. Epidemiology of fibrinogen. Eur Heart J 1995; 16(Suppl A): 21–24.
Masiaà R, Pena A, Marrugat J, et al. High prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in Gerona, Spain, a province with low myocardial infarction incidence. J Epidemiol Community Health 1998; 52: 707–715.
World Health Organization. MONICA manual. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1992.
Taylor HL, Jacobs DR Jr, Schhucker B, et al. A questionnaire for the assessment of leisure time physical activities. J Chronic Dis 1978; 31: 741–755.
Elosua R, Marrugat J, Molina L, et al. Validation of the Minnesota Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire in Spanish Men. The MARATHOM Investigators. Am J Epidemiol 1994; 139: 1197–1209.
Elosua R, Garcia M, Aguilar A, et al. for the MARATDON investigators. Validation of the Minnesota Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire in Spanish Women. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2000; 32: 1431–1437.
Krobot K, Hense HW, Cremer P, et al. Determinants of plasma fibrinogen: relation to body weight, waist-tohip ratio, alcohol, age and sex. Results from the second MONICA Augsburg survey 1989–1990. Arterioscler Thromb 1992; 12: 780–788.
Kannel WB, D'Agostino RB, Belanger AJ. Fibrinogen, cigarette smoking, and risk of cardiovascular disease: Insights from the Framingham Study. Am Heart J 1987; 113: 1006–1010.
De Maat MP, Pietersma A, Koffard M, et al. Association of plasma fibrinogen levels with coronary artery disease, smokingand inflammatory markers. Atherosclerosis 1996; 121: 185–191.
Napoli C, Abete P, Corso G, et al. Increased low density lipoprotein peroxidation in elderly men. Coron Artery Dis 1997; 8: 129–136.
De Boever E, De Backer D, Braeckman L, et al. Relation of fibrinogen to lifestyles and to cardiovascular risk factors in a working population. Int J Epidemiol 1995; 24: 915–921.
Meade TW, Chakrabarti R, Haines AP, et al. Characteristics affecting fibrinolytic activity and plasma fibrinogen concentrations. Br Med J 1979; 278: 153–156.
Krobot K, Hense HWM, Cremer P, et al. Determinants of plasma fibrinogen: Relation to body weight, waist-to-hip ratio, smoking, alcohol, age, and sex: Results from the Second MONICA Augsburg Survey, 1989–1990. Arterioscler Thromb 1992; 12: 780–788.
Hendriks HFJ, Veenstra J, Veltius-te EJM, et al. Effect of moderate dose of alcohol with eveningmeal on fibrinolytic factors. Br Med J 1994; 308: 1003–1006.
Solerte SB, Fiorovanti M, Pezza N, et al. Hyperviscosity and microproteinuria in central obesity: Relevance to cardiovascular risk. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1997; 21: 417–423.
Ditschuneit HH, Flechtner-Mors M, et al. Fibrinogen in obesity before and after weight reduction. Obes Res 1995; 3: 43–48.
Miles LA, Fless GM, Levin EG, et al. A potential basis for the thrombotic risks associated with lipoprotein(a). Nature 1989; 339: 301–303.
Hajjar KA, Gavish D, Breslow JL, et al. Lipoprotein(a) modulation of endothelial cell surface fibrinolysis and its potential role in atherosclerosis. Nature 1989; 339: 303–305.
Lakka TA, Salonen JT. Moderate to high intensity conditioning leisure time physical activity and high respiratory fitness are associated with reduced plasma fibrinogen in Eastern Finnish men. J Clin Epidemiol 1993; 46: 1119–1127.
Siscovick DS, Fried L, Mittelmark M, et al. Exercise intensity and subclinical cardiovascular disease in the elderly. The Cardiovascular Health Study. Am J Epidemiol 1997; 145: 977–986.
El Sayed MS, Davies B. Aphysical conditioning program does not alter fibrinogen concentration in young healthy subjects. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1995; 27: 485–489.
Stratton JR, Chandler WL, Schwartz RS, et al. Effects of physical conditioning on fibrinolytic variables and fibrinogen in young and old healthy adults. Circulation 1991; 83: 1692–1697.
Scarabin PY, Aillaud MF, Amouyel P, et al. Associations of fibrinogen, factor VII and PAI-1 with baseline findings among 10,500 male participants in a prospective study of myocardial infarction-the PRIME Study. Prospective Epidemiological Study of Myocardial Infarction. Thromb Haemost 1998; 80: 749–756.
Lam TH, Liu LJ, Janus ED, et al. The relationship between fibrinogen and other coronary heart disease risk factors in a Chinese population. Atherosclerosis 1999; 143: 405–413.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nascetti, S., Elosua, R., Pena, A. et al. Variables associated with fibrinogen in a population-based study: Interaction between smoking and age on fibrinogen concentration. Eur J Epidemiol 17, 953–958 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016216808365
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016216808365