NEWSBRIEF - Fibrinogen level predicts mortality.
Japanese researchers report that the blood level of fibrinogen (blood coagulation factor) in elderly men predicts their risk of dying prematurely from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other diseases. They found that men (between the ages of 71 and 93 years) in the upper 20 per cent of fibrinogen levels had more than four times the risk of dying in the first year of the study than did men in the lower 20 per cent category. For each 0.64 g/L increase in fibrinogen their risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease increased by 20 per cent and the risk of dying from cancer by 30 per cent. Editor's Note: Regular fish oil supplementation is quite effective in lowering fibrinogen levels.
Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Vol. 21, June 2001, pp. 1065-70