Several components of blood, e.g. lipids, coagulation and fibrinolytic factors, are thought to be important risk factors in cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to correlate these risk factors and the soluble adhesion proteins, soluble P-selection (sP-selectin) and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule (sVCAM-1), in healthy men and women as well as to unravel any effects of smoking. One hundred and forty-two fasting men (median age 36 years) including 39 smokers, and 124 women (median age 34 years) including 35 smokers, were tested between 0800 h and 1000 h. Fibrinogen correlated positively with white blood cells (WBC) (r = 0.25), prothrombin fragment 1.2 (F1.2) (r = 0.21), cholesterol (r = 0.27), beta-thromboglobulin (r = 0.29), Factor VII clotting activity (FVIIc) (r = 0.27) (all P < 0.0001), tissue plasminogen activator antigen (t-PAag) (r = 0.22, P < 0.0005), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 antigen (PAI-Zag) (r = 0.20) and VCAM-1 (r = 0.19) (both P < 0.002). Cholesterol and triacylglycerol (TG) correlated positively with t-PA antigen (t-PAag) (r = 0.36 and r = 0.38), PAI-1 antigen (PAI-lag) (r = 0.35 and r = 0.50), P-selectin (r = 0.26 and r = 0.27) tall P < 0.0001) and WBC (r = 0.17, P < 0.007 and r = 0.18, P < 0.004). Cholesterol correlated also with F1.2 (r = 0.29) and TG (r = 0.44) (P < 0.0001). in addition to cholesterol and TG, sP-selectin correlated postively with PAI-lag (r = 0.39), t-PAag (r = 0.27) and WBC (r = 0.25) tall P < 0.0001). Comparing the various test parameters in men and women, it was found that women had significantly higher levels of F 1.2 and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol than men, whereas men had higher levels of t-PAag, PAI-lag and P-selectin than women. Smoking was associated with a rise in several of the test parameters. It can be concluded that there are correlations between several risk factors. Of particular interest is the positive correlation between sP-selectin and a number of established risk factors of cardiovascular diseases. (C) 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
