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Atherothrombotic risk factor clustering in healthy male relatives of male patients with intermittent claudication

Duncan J Parry1, Peter J Grant, D Julian A Scott

  • 1Department of Vascular Surgery, St James's Hospital.

Journal of Vascular Surgery
|November 24, 2004
PubMed

Insights

First-degree relatives of men with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) show higher levels of key clotting factors, indicating familial risk. This suggests a clustering of thrombotic risk factors in these high-risk individuals.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Science
  • Hematology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Family history is a known risk factor for premature acute myocardial infarction.
  • Familial risk for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is not well-established.
  • Elevated hemostatic proteins predict cardiovascular risk and may cluster with insulin resistance.
  • Atherothrombotic risk factors cluster in relatives of individuals with coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate atherothrombotic risk factors in healthy male first-degree relatives of men with intermittent claudication.
  • To specifically assess thrombotic risk factors within this high-risk population.
  • To determine if familial clustering of risk factors occurs in PAD.

Main Methods:

  • Compared 165 healthy male first-degree relatives with 165 age-, sex-, and race-matched control subjects.
  • Exclusion criteria included personal or family history of premature cardiovascular disease.
  • Primary outcome measures included fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor, factor VII clotting activity (FVII:C), and factor XIII levels.
  • Measured atherosclerotic risk factors and genotyped for common functional polymorphisms.

Main Results:

  • Relatives exhibited significantly higher mean levels of fibrinogen (3.04 vs 2.89 g/L, P = .021).
  • Relatives showed elevated FVII:C (117% vs 104%, P = .000) and factor XIII B subunit (1.11 vs 1.01 IU/mL, P = .000) levels.
  • These associations remained independent of other variables in multivariate analysis.

Conclusions:

  • Healthy male relatives of men with PAD demonstrate elevated levels of fibrinogen, factor VII, and factor XIII.
  • These findings support the existence of thrombotic risk factor clustering in this high-risk population.
  • This suggests a potential genetic or familial predisposition to PAD through atherothrombotic mechanisms.
Abstract

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