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Thromb Haemost 1992; 67(03): 377-380
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1648450
Original Articles
Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart

Thrombin Activity by Intrinsic Activation of Plasma In-Vitro Accelerates with Increasing Age of the Donor

S H Ibbotson
The General lnfirmary, Leeds, UK
,
G M Tate
*   The Department of University Medicine and Haematology, Leeds, UK
,
J A Davies
The General lnfirmary, Leeds, UK
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received 22 April 1991

Accepted after revision 19 September 1991

Publication Date:
03 July 2018 (online)

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Summary

Thrombotic diseases increase in incidence with advancing years and this might be partly due to an increased propensity for fibrin formation in older individuals. Accordingly we decided to investigate whether the time taken to generate 50% thrombin activity in vitro varied with the age of the plasma donor. Coagulation was initiated in defibrinated, diluted plasma by contact activation and thrombin activity measured using the chromogenic substrate, S2238. The rate of thrombin generation was assessed by measuring the time taken to reach 50% maximal activity (T50/s). There was a highly significant negative correlation between T50 and age, T50 declining from 93 s at 19 years to 71 s at 65 years (r = −0.637, p <0.0001). A strong negative correlation was demonstrated between T50 and FVII level (r = -0.415, p = 0.0007) and FVIII: C level (r = -0.465, p = 0.0001). Although FVII concentration correlated with age (r = 0.307, p = 0.014) no relationship was seen between age and FVIII :C. These data suggest that coagulation rates in plasma accelerate with age.

 

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