The Life Extension Foundation provides a Fibrinogen test without requiring a
prescription from a doctor: It's $55:
http://www.lef.org/newshop/cgi-shop/showCategory.cgi?catid=23000
I vaguely recall that there's a way to reduce Fibrinogen with supplements, so I believe it's worth taking the test.
They also do Homocysteine for $110. High homocysteine is also associated with heart attack. It can be reduced with a B vitamin.
I have no association with the LEF and I don't know anything about their tests in specific.
I'm curious if anyone has an opinion on their cancer profile.
Elizabeth Childs
echilds@linex.com
Yoda's Witness
> Authors
> Woodward M. Lowe GD. Rumley A. Tunstall-Pedoe H.
> Institution
> Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, University of Dundee, Scotland.
> Title
> Fibrinogen as a risk factor for coronary heart disease and
> mortality in middle-aged men and women. The Scottish Heart
> Health Study.
> Source
> European Heart Journal. 19(1):55-62, 1998 Jan.
> Abstract
> AIMS: Fibrinogen was measured in 5095 men and 4860 men aged
> 40-59 in a random population sample from 25 districts of Scotland
recruited
> during 1984-87: the Scottish Heart Health Study. Fibrinogen
> was then related to the chance of fatal and non-fatal coronary events
and
> death from any cause during a subsequent follow-up period of around 8
years.
> METHODS AND RESULTS: Fibrinogen was measured by the Clauss
> assay. The effect of fibrinogen on coronary heart disease
> and death was assessed through age-adjusted means and Cox proportional
> hazards regression models, accounting for age, cotinine (a measure of
tobacco
> smoke inhalation) and 11 other major coronary risk factors.
> Fibrinogen was found to be an important risk factor for
> coronary heart disease in men and women, with and without pre-existing
> coronary heart disease. There appears to be a threshold effect, with
those in
> the highest fifth of the distribution having a much increased risk.
Estimated
> age-adjusted hazard ratios by sex and pre-existing coronary heart
disease
> group for the highest to lowest fifth of fibrinogen range
> between 1.93 and 4.86. Fibrinogen is also important as a
> risk factor for coronary death and all-causes mortality,
> with a similar threshold effect. Comparing the two extreme fifths, the
hazard
> ratios for coronary death are 3.01 and 3.42, and for all-cause
> mortality are 2.59 and 2.20, for men and women respectively.
> Adjustment for cotinine reduces the hazard ratios, but further
adjustment for
> the other 11 risk factors has little effect for coronary heart disease
> events. After full adjustment there is a remaining significant (P <
0.05)
> hazard ratio for coronary death and death from any cause and for a
coronary
> heart disease event for those free of coronary heart disease at
baseline,
> amongst men, comparing the highest to the lowest fifth. CONCLUSION:
> Fibrinogen is a strong predictor of coronary heart disease,
> fatal or non-fatal, new or recurrent, and of death from an unspecified
cause,
> for both men and women. Its effect is only partially attributable to
other
> coronary risk factors, the most important of which is smoking.
>
>
>