Stressful life events and fibrinogen level in middle-aged teachers

Strong evidence has been reported that a high plasmatic level of fibrinogen plays a central role in the development of coronary heart disease. Many researches showed that stressful life events lead to an increase in plasmatic fibrinogen. The present investigation examined the relationship between plasmatic fibrinogen level and stressful life events.

A sample of 40 middle-aged women employed as teachers underwent a general objective examination, a venous puncture for plasma fibrinogen level evaluation, and completed a questionnaire regarding health behaviours, at baseline and 1-year follow-up. The stressful life events were recorded using the Paykel's interview for recent life events.

At the baseline assessment, the distribution of teachers in the two stress exposure groups was 16 women for the non-exposed group of teachers, and 24 for the exposed teachers, while at the 1-year follow-up assessment, it was 10 for the non-exposed and 30 for the exposed group. The number of teachers exposed to stress was significantly higher at the 1-year follow-up than at the baseline assessment (30 and 24, respectively; p < 0.05). Average levels of plasmatic fibrinogen were significantly higher in stress-exposed women than in non-exposed women both at baseline assessment (p < 0.01) and at 1-year follow-up (p < 0.002). Moreover, the mean value of fibrinogen at the follow-up assessment showed a higher increase in stressed women compared with non-stressed women with an annual increase of 10.71 and 5.40%, respectively.

Stress may trigger the hypercoagulable state evidenced by an increased plasmatic fibrinogen level. This mechanism may help explain the adverse impact of stress on the cardiovascular system.