Summary
The majority of fatal acute myocardial infarctions occur in the elderly. Since these
events are predominantly thrombotic, we studied the cross-sectional associations of
the anticoagulant proteins Anti-thrombin, Protein C, Protein S, and Tissue Factor
Pathway Inhibitor (TFPI) in a subgroup (n = 400) of the Cardiovascular Health Study
(a study of healthy men and women ≥65 years) free of clinical cardiovascular disease
(CVD).
We did not observe any strong age-associated trends, although Protein C was lower
in older women (p ≤0.001), and TFPI was higher in older men (p ≤0.01). The inhibitors
were highly intercorrelated, and were associated with increased levels of inflammation-sensitive
proteins (e.g., fibrinogen, plasminogen), lipids (especially total and LDL-cholesterol),
and coagulation factors, such as Factors VIIc, IXc, and Xc. None was associated with
the procoagulant markers Prothrombin Fragment F1-2 or Fibrinopeptide A. Only TFPI
was associated with subclinical atherosclerosis: ankle-arm index and internal carotid
artery stenosis, p trend ≤0.01; and carotid wall thickness, p trend ≤0.05. In multivariate
analysis the independent predictors of TFPI were levels of fibrinogen; the fibrinolytic
marker plasminantiplasmin complex; LDL-cholesterol; and carotid wall thickness (R2 for the model = 0.35).
In summary, the inhibitors did not appear to increase with age, and were predominantly
associated with inflammation markers and lipids. Since markers of thrombin production
do increase with age, we hypothesize that an age-related hemostatic imbalance may
ensue, with associated increased thrombotic risk. Only TFPI was associated with subclinical
CVD, suggesting that it may more closely reflect endothelial damage. (250)