Relation of hemostatic risk factors to other risk factors for coronary heart disease and to sex hormones in men.

Abstract

The present study was carried out to explore the possible relation of plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), fibrinogen, and factor VII levels to other risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) and to serum sex hormone levels. The study group comprised 48 apparently healthy men. To avoid the confounding factor of obesity, correlations were determined in the 30 men in this group with a body mass index (BMI) < 26.4, after controlling for age. PAI-1 correlated with testosterone, estradiol/testosterone, and free testosterone/testosterone (FT/T), and fibrinogen correlated with FT/T. All three hemostatic factors correlated with glucose and with the ratio of cholesterol/high density lipoprotein cholesterol, while PAI-1 correlated with diastolic blood pressure. To test the effect of obesity, correlations were determined in the entire group of 48 men, which included 18 subjects with a BMI > 26.4. All three hemostatic factors correlated with BMI in this group after controlling for age; however, on controlling for testosterone, only PAI-1 correlated with BMI. Fibrinogen correlated with age in both groups after controlling for testosterone or BMI. These correlations support the hypothesis that PAI-1, fibrinogen, and factor VII are related to other risk factors for CHD and that an alteration in the sex hormone milieu may be the underlying factor linking them.