Plasma fibrinogen and incident hypertension in the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities (ARIC) Study

Background. Several cross-sectional studies have reported a positive association between plasma fibrinogen levels and prevalent hypertension. Other studies have reported a positive association between hypertension and whole-blood or plasma viscosity, to which fibrinogen contributes. To our knowledge, there has been no prospective study of fibrinogen and incident hypertension. Subjects and methods. We measured plasma fibrinogen levels in a population-based cohort study of middle-aged adults and related it to the occurrence of incident hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg or use of antihypertensive medication) over 6 years. Results. There was a moderately strong positive association between fibrinogen levels and prevalent hypertension in both men and women, with the odds of hypertension elevated by 50% for the highest fibrinogen quartile versus the lowest. Among 7884 participants at risk, 1609 developed hypertension over 6 years. Adjusted for age, race, field center and baseline systolic blood pressure, the odds ratio of incident hypertension in relation to fibrinogen quartiles was 1.0, 1.07, 1.21 and 1.43 in men (P = 0.003 for trend) and 1.0, 0.92, 0.99 and 0.99 in women (P = 0.89 for trend). After adjustment for other risk factors, the odds ratios were 1.0, 1.03, 1.15 and 1.29 (P = 0.045 for trend) in men and remained nonsignificant in women. Conclusions. Despite a moderately strong positive association between fibrinogen levels and prevalent hypertension in both sexes, there was only a weak positive association between fibrinogen levels and incident hypertension in men and no association in women. Whether an elevated fibrinogen level is a risk factor for, or a consequence of, hypertension remains unclear.