| Abstract: | The ECAT Angina Pecioris Study is a European multicentre studyinvestigating the pathogenetic and possibly predictive roleof the haemostatic system in the progress of coronary heartdisease. In this paper we report the cross-sectional analysisof haemostatic factors in 3043 patients, who underwent coronaryangiography due to angina pectoris. Fibrinogen levels were higherin patients with one or more coronary stenoses of at least 50%than in patients without, by an average of 0.16 g. l–1(P <0.0001). Depressed fibrinolytic activity due to higherlevels of PAI was also associated with the presence of coronarystenoses. There was no association with the extent of coronaryarteriosclerosis, as assessed by the number of involved arteries,except that patients who had more vessels with total occlusionshad higher fibrinogen levels. Depressed fibrinolytic activitywas also clearly associated with diabetes, obesity, higher triglyceridelevels, smoking and impaired cardiac pump function as assessedby ejection fraction. Cholesterol levels were particularly correlatedwith protein C and plasminogen. |
