Coagulation factors and lipid composition of the blood in treated and untreated hypertensive patients

The cardiovascular risk factors blood pressure, overweight, hyperlipidaemia and several coagulation parameters were studied in a group of 54 otherwise healthy patients with essential hypertension of moderate severity. Of the 54 hypertensive patients, 43 were treated with anti-hypertensive drugs and 11 were not. The patients included in this study who were treated with anti-hypertensive drugs were still hypertensive in spite of their treatment. Lipoprotein levels and coagulation parameters did not differ between the untreated and treated hypertensive patients. Substantial percentages of patients were found to have hypertriglyceridaemia (46%), elevated LDL-cholesterol (28%) and elevated lipoprotein(a) concentrations (43%). Coagulation factors F VIIIc, fibrin monomer and factor VII in males were significantly elevated in comparison with a healthy reference group. These data are compatible with a moderate activation of the coagulation system. Correlations were established between systolic blood pressure and serum cholesterol (r = 0.43, p = 0.003), LDL-cholesterol (r = 0.34, p = 0.02) and triglycerides (r = 0.35, p = 0.01); Quetelet-index with fibrinogen (r = 0.37, p = 0.02) and thrombin-antithrombin III (r = 0.30, p = 0.04); and triglycerides with F VIIc (r = 0.34, p = 0.03) and fibrin monomer (r = 0.29, p = 0.04) respectively. These data link hypertension and hyperlipidaemia with increased coagulation activity and may contribute to our understanding of why these two cardiovascular risk factors accelerate atherogenesis.