| Summary: | The development of a first myocardial infarction is associated with a large number of contributing factors. Age, male sex, hypertension, smoking, diabetes, body mass index and hypercholesterolemia are considered as established risk factors. The primary aim of the present dissertation was to evaluate whether specific biomarkers could improve the prediction of subjects at risk for a first myocardial infarction when considered in addition to established cardiovascular risk factors. The biomarkers investigated include: tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), thrombomodulin (TM), von Willebrand factor (VWF), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)), leptin, apolipoproptein A1 (ApoA1), proinsulin, homocysteine and homozygosity for the 5,10- methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C>T genotype. A secondary objective was to determine whether a first myocardial infarction leads to increased plasma homocysteine concentrations and whether the association between homocysteine and myocardial infarction was greater at follow-up compared to baseline. The study population consisted of 36 405 subjects screened and included in the Västerbotten Intervention Program and the Northern Sweden MONICA cohorts between January 1, 1985 and September 30, 1994. A nested incident case-referent study design was used. Seventy eight cases with a first myocardial infarction were identified, and from the same cohort twice as many sex and age matched referents were randomly selected. Moreover, a follow-up health survey (average 8.5 years between surveys) was conducted with 50 cases and 56 matched referents. High plasma levels of tPA and PAI-1 mass concentration, VWF, proinsulin, leptin and Lp(a) and low plasma levels of ApoA1 were associated with subsequent development of a first myocardial infarction in univariate conditional logistic regression analysis. For PAI-1 and tPA, this relation was found in both men and women. For tPA, but not for PAI-1 and VWF, this association was ...
|
|---|