Fibrinogen assays for cardiovascular risk assessment,”Clinical Chemistry

leagues (1) report an evaluation of a newplasma fibrin-ogen assay for the study of its associations with cardio-vascular disease. So, what is the current status of plasma fibrinogen in cardiovascular risk assessment, and how might this new assay advance our knowledge and practice? Fibrinogen, the precursor of fibrin, was the first blood coagulation factor to be described—in 1836 by Buchanan at the University of Glasgow (2). By 1995, many studies had established that the plasma fibrino-gen concentration was associated not only with coro-nary heart disease but also with cerebrovascular and peripheral vascular diseases (2). These associations have led to evaluation of fibrinogen as a possible causal factor in cardiovascular disease, as a therapeutic target, and as a risk predictor in both healthy persons and those with established cardiovascular diseases. The association of fibrinogen with risks of cardio-vascular disease and mortality in healthy individuals has been reliably established through international col-laborative individual-person metaanalyses, the Fibrin-ogen Studies Collaboratio