Fibrinogen in Obesity Before and After Weight Reduction

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Abstract
Several studies have shown that obesity is associated with atherosclerosis. The reason may be that there is often a gathering together of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in obesity. Recently plasma fibrinogen level has been identified as an important cardiovascular risk factor. The aim of the study was to investigate fibrinogen levels in obesity before and after weight reduction. Obese but otherwise healthy patients with overweight problems were studied. 448 female patients (39.1 ± 13.2 years, body mass index 38.7 kg/m2) and 136 male patients (39.4 ± 12.8 years, body mass index 40.7 kg/m2) were examined after overnight fasting. Sixty patients (44 female, 16 male) were studied after 9.5 ± 6.2 month of dieting (1200 kcal/day: 20% protein, 30% fat and 50% carbohydrates). The weight loss was 16.7 ± 11.0 kg in the female and 16.2 ± 6.7 kg in the male patients, and blood pressure, triglycerides, blood glucose and uric acid had declined. The fibrinogen level correlated with the body mass index, the waist circumference, the hip circumference and the waist to hip ratio. The fibrinogen level also correlated with insulin. A partial correlation of fibrinogen and insulin continued to exist after removing the linear effects of the other variables measured. After weight reduction, the level of fibrinogen was lower. In patients with extreme overweight and high fibrinogen levels, who reduced their BMI by 7.4 ± 1.24 kg/m2, the weight loss correlated with the decrease in fibrinogen. The results suggest that fibrinogen is associated with the degree of obesity and with the fasting insulin level. Fibrinogen concentration is lowered by weight reduction. However decrease of fibrinogen was observed only in patients with considerable weight loss.