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European Heart Journal Advance Access originally published online on February 15, 2005
European Heart Journal 2005 26(6):625; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehi153
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© The European Society of Cardiology 2005. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions{at}oupjournals.org

 

Haemorheological variables as risk factors of ischaemic heart diseases: reply

John Yarnell, (on behalf of the authors)

Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
Queen's University Belfast
Mulhouse Building
Royal Victoria Hospital
Grosvenor Road
BT12 6BJ
Belfast
UK
Tel: +44 28 90632746
Fax: +44 28 90231907
E-mail address: j.yarnell{at}qub.ac.uk

Gordon Lowe, (on behalf of the authors)

Department of Vascular Medicine
University of Glasgow
Royal Infirmary
G31 2ER
Glasgow
UK
E-mail address: gdl1j{at}clinmed.gla.ac.uk

We thank Dr Késmárky and colleagues for their interest in our work. We agree in principle with their conclusions, but we note that there are two principal differences between our respective scientific materials. First, our data are based on the general population which will include a proportion of subjects with epidemiological and clinical evidence of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) as well as ‘healthy subjects’ without such evidence. These data permit calculation of risk of subsequent IHD in the general population rather than solely in patients who have visited a clinician.

Secondly, we did not present data on whole blood viscosity; a recent meta-analysis showed that plasma viscosity was predictive for IHD but there were too few prospective studies of whole blood viscosity to warrant a full meta-analysis.1 Furthermore, it has been proposed that in epidemiological studies, plasma viscosity and haematocrit can be used to estimate whole blood viscosity, as these measures are far less technically demanding than whole blood viscosity.2

In our own paper, we have suggested that fibrinogen, plasma viscosity, and white cell count could be considered as robust and cheap additional risk predictors of IHD in the general population, but also that these results should be tested in other epidemiological studies.

References

  1. Danesh J, Collins R, Peto R et al. Haematocrit, viscosity, erythrocyte sedimentation rate: meta-analyses of prospective studies of coronary heart disease. Eur Heart J 2000;21:515–520.[Free Full Text]
  2. Lowe GDO, Rumley A, Norrie J et al., for the WOSCOPS Investigators. Blood rheology, cardiovascular risk factors, and cardiovascular disease: the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study. Thromb Haemost 2000;84:555–638.

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This Article
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