Association between fibrinogen and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease in men and women. Results from the Göteborg MONICA survey 1985.

Plasma fibrinogen and its association to other risk factors for cardiovascular disease was investigated in a random sample of 691 men and 739 women, aged 25 to 64 years, participating in the Göteborg MONICA survey. In both genders univariate analyses revealed significantly positive correlations between plasma fibrinogen and age, body mass index (BMI), waist/hip ratio (WHR), systolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol and triglycerides and a negative correlation to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol; however, the degree of relationship varied between men and women. Smoking was significantly correlated to fibrinogen (P < 0.001) in men, whereas the association was weaker in women. Multivariate analysis showed that plasma fibrinogen in both genders was significantly correlated to age, smoking, and BMI. The influence of smoking was stronger in men and BMI was stronger in women. Furthermore, the association of fibrinogen to HDL cholesterol was significant only in men and to triglycerides only in women. Plasma fibrinogen was significantly related to gender; when all other significant variables were taken into account, women had higher fibrinogen levels than men.