Evidence for Abnormalities in Clotting and Thrombolysis as a Risk Factor For Stroke

Abstract

Four hundred six patients with ischemic thrombotic cerebrovascular disease (ITCVD) and 115 age-matched controls were studied to select risk factors which would identify ITCVD-prone individuals from a healthy population. The following factors were evaluated: soluble fibrin, plasminogen, plasminogen activator, fibrinogen, partial thromboplastin time, generation of thromboplastin, fibrin degradation products, triglycerides, type IV hyperlipoproteinemia, and cholesterol. Discriminate function analyses were used to select those risk factors which best separate and classify the ITCVD and control subjects. The primary risk factors are the activated partial thromboplastin time, soluble fibrin, fibrinogen, and plasminogen activator. Utilizing only these four primary risk factors in a discriminate function, 93.2% of the patients were correctly classified. Consideration of other variables increased still further the discriminate function.