Abstract

In a preliminary report from the Caerphilly study four haemostatic factors showed univariate associations with prevalent ischaemic heart disease after adjusting for age. These factors were fibrinogen concentration, plasma viscosity, white cell count, and the heparin-thrombin clotting time. Age and these haemostatic variables were entered into a stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis; after age the white cell count and heparin-thrombin clotting time remained significantly associated with ischaemic heart disease. Further regression analyses indicated that diastolic blood pressure contributed additionally to this association with ischaemic heart disease but that smoking habit did not.