Physical activity, fibrinogen plasma level and gene polymorphisms in postmenopausal women

The relations between habitual physical activity (PA), fibrinogen gene polymorphisms and plasma fibrinogen were investigated in 191 postmenopausal women. Subjects who reported PA at least 4 times/week had lower fibrinogen level (3.19 g/l; 95% CI 3.10; 3.27) than women reporting PA 2-3 times/week (3.43 g/l; 3.29; 3.58) or sedentary subjects (3.64 g/l; 3.33; 3.94). There were no differences in plasma fibrinogen across the alpha-fibrinogen (RsaI, TaqI) or beta-fibrinogen (MnlI, BclI, HindIII) genotypes, the frequencies of which were in a Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. An interaction between RsaI, which was in complete linkage disequilibrium with TaqI, and PA on plasma fibrinogen was observed, even after adjustments for BMI, smoking and medication (p = 0.024). Among women homozygous for the common RsaI allele, the physically most active had lower fibrinogen level (p <0.001) compared to the physically less active subjects. These results suggest that, in postmenopausal women, the relation between physical activity and plasma fibrinogen is modulated by genetic variation in the alpha-fibrinogen gene.