Summary
Elucidation of the key role of thrombosis in cardiovascular disease events has arisen
considerable interest in hemostatic factors and in the repeatability of their determinations.
Data on long-term repeatability has, however, remained scanty. We examined twice 208
men and 265 women in North Karelia, eastern Finland. The baseline examination was
a part of the FINRISK 1992 Hemostasis Study and the age-range of participants was
between 45-64 years. The re-examination took place three years later in 1995. Both
surveys followed the same protocol and were carried out during the same season. Spearman
rank correlation coefficients between 1992 and 1995 measurements of fibrinogen, factor
VII coagulant activity (FVII:C), factor VII antigen (FVII:Ag), and plasminogen were
among men 0.72, 0.77, 0.46 and 0.56, respectively. For total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol,
triglycerides and diastolic blood pressure the corresponding coefficients were 0.74,
0.83, 0.66, and 0.54. In women, the coefficient of fibrinogen was lower than in men,
0.62, otherwise the results were similar. Of men belonging to the highest quarter
of fibrinogen, FVII:C, FVII:Ag and plasminogen in 1992, 65%, 60%, 53% and 60% belonged
to the highest quarter of respective distributions also in 1995. In women, the corresponding
proportions were 64%, 65%, 46% and 58%. The modest repeatability of FVII:Ag and plasminogen
was mainly due to the high intraindividual variability. However, in comparisons of
plasma levels between two groups, relatively small sample sizes seemed to give adequate
statistical power to detect possible differences in FVII:Ag and plasminogen. In conclusion,
the long-term repeatability of fibrinogen and FVII:C is similar to that of triglycerides
and even better than that of diastolic blood pressure, but somewhat lower than the
repeatability of total cholesterol. FVII:Ag and plasminogen did not have very good
repeatability and more than one measurement of them should be considered if they are
used as predictors of cardiovascular disease in prospective studies.
