No Association of Plasma Prothrombin Concentration or the G20210A Mutation with Incident Cardiovascular Disease

SummaryProthrombin is a key factor in blood clotting, a process intimately involved in thrombotic disease. We assessed prothrombin levels and G20210A genotype in a case-control study within the Cardiovascular Health Study. Cases included angina, myocardial infarction, stroke, and the presence of MRI-detectable infarcts (n ≈ 250 each). Populationbased controls free of clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) (n ≈ 500) and a subset free of clinical and subclinical CVD (n ≈ 250) were used for comparison. The 20210 A allele, frequency 2.9%, was associated with higher mean prothrombin levels: 166.3 vs. 139.5 µg/ml (P