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Because the clotting system has been implicated in the development of atherosclerosis and its complications, investigators at the Framingham Study evaluated serum fibrinogen levels as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. They measured fibrinogen levels in 1315 patients without clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease; 24 percent of the patients developed cardiovascular disease over the next 12 years.
The risk of coronary artery disease and stroke increased with increasing fibrinogen levels, especially in males, even after adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors in a multivariate analysis. The investigators conclude that fibrinogen should be considered a predictor of cardiovascular disease, and that it should be added to the c…