Summary
Fibrinogen, plasma viscocity, and the white blood cell count predict ischaemic heart
disease, but there is less certainty for their predictive power for ischaemic stroke.
Studying stroke and ischaemic heart disease in the same cohort prospectively allows
comparison of predictive strengths. The Caerphilly and Speedwell cohorts consist of
a population sample of 4,860 men aged 45-59 years at recruitment who had baseline
measurements of fibrinogen, plasma viscosity, and white blood cell counts. After 15-19
years of follow-up, men in the two cohorts experienced 312 ischaemic strokes and 557
ischaemic heart disease events. Mean fibrinogen, plasma viscosity and white blood
cell counts differed significantly after adjustment for confounding factors between
men with and without ischaemic heart disease, 0.25 g/l (95% CIs 0.18-0.32); 0.036
cp (95% CIs 0.027-0.044); 0.67 X 109/l (95% CIs 0.50-0.84) respectively. The same
measurements showed no significant differences after adjustment for the same confounding
factors for men with and without ischaemic stroke, 0.05 g/l (95% CIs -0.04-0.14);
0.008 cp (95% CIs -0.003-0.019); 0.16 X 109/l (95% CIs -0.06-0.38) respectively.
Keywords
Stroke - ischaemic heart disease - fibrinogen - plasma viscosity - white blood cell
count