Prothrombin fragment F1 + 2: correlations with cardiovascular risk factors.

Plasma prothrombin fragment F 1 + 2 (F1 + 2), thrombin-antithrombin complexes (TAT), fibrinogen and factor VII were related to variables associated with increased cardiovascular risk in 86 plasma donors (49 male and 37 female). F1 + 2 had a log-normal distribution and increased significantly with age and body mass index (BMI). Significantly, higher F1 + 2 levels were found in smoking compared with non-smoking males and in indolent males compared with males taking regular exercise. Higher levels were found in subjects with a parental history of ischaemic heart disease than in those lacking such a history. F1 + 2 correlated strongly with increasing cholesterol in males. Fibrinogen was significantly higher in male smokers than male non-smokers but did not vary with age or BMI. Factor VII correlated strongly with cholesterol and to a lesser extent with fibrinogen, F1 + 2 and BMI, but not with smoking. F1 + 2 correlated more closely with risk factors for cardiovascular disease than fibrinogen and factor VII, and consistently reflected the difference in cardiovascular risk when correlated with risk factors which have markedly different effects between the sexes. It promises to be a useful predictive marker of ischaemic heart disease.