Fibrinogen, viscosity and the 10-year incidence of ischaemic heart disease: The Caerphilly and Speedwell studies

Aims To use the ten year follow-up of the Caerphilly and Speedwell studies to assess the contributions of fibrinogen and viscosity to the prediction of risk of ischaemic heart disease. Methods and Results Caerphilly and Speedwell are prospective studies based on representative samples of middleaged males. Ischaemic heart disease morbidity and mortality were defined using hospital notes, repeat electrocardiographs and death certificates. There were 603 incident events among the 4860 men. Age-adjusted relative odds of ischaemic heart disease increased to 3 3 and 3-4 in the 20% of men with the highest levels of fibrinogen and viscosity, respectively. After standardizing for the major cardiovascular risk factors, these relative odds were 2-2 (95% confidence interval I-6 to 31) for fibrinogen and 2-3 (95% confidence interval 1-7 to 3-2) for viscosity. When fibrinogen and viscosity were entered jointly, both remained significant (/>