Objective: To study the relationship between serum advanced fibrinogen and the severity of coronary artery stenosis.
Methods: In a collection of 195 patients suspected of coronary artery disease (CAD), coronary artery stenosis was studied with coronary angiography. The severity of coronary artery disease was quantified with a modified Gensini score on the basis of angiographic imaging manipulation system. Fibrinogen, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and D-dimer were determined in all the patients. After the influences of other risk factors were controlled, the relationship between fibrinogen and severity of CAD was analyzed.
Results: Partial correlation analysis showed that fibrinogen was positively correlated with the severity of CAD (r = 0.293, P < 0.01). Multiple stepwise regression analysis indicated that fibrinogen and age were significant variables associated with the severity of coronary artery disease (F value was 16.89, 15.47, P < 0.01; R was 0.29, 0.38, P < 0.01). All the patients were assigned to one of four groups according to fibrinogen level with 25, 50 and 75 percentile as cut-off points. We found that high fibrinogen level was associated with severe coronary artery disease, particularly in men and in diabetes mellitus patients.
Conclusion: Elevated fibrinogen level is related to the severity of CAD.