Correlation of vitamin K-dependent clotting factors with cholesterol and triglycerides in healthy young adults

The plasma level of factor VII activity was a risk factor for the development of ischemic heart disease (IHD) in a prospective epidemiological study of hemostatic factors. We have previously reported significant correlations between factor VII clotting activity or antigen and lipid fractions in a group of 132 young men (< 30 years old) at low risk for IHD and concluded that control of the plasma factor VII level may be linked to lipid metabolism in normal male physiology. Because factor VII is one of four vitamin K-dependent procoagulant proteins, we hypothesized that plasma levels of all these proteins would be similarly controlled in normal physiology. In an extension of this study, we have measured two additional vitamin K-dependent clotting factors (prothrombin [factor II] and factor X activity), as well as factor VII activity and antigen and fasting serum lipid fractions in healthy young men and women (< 30 years old) at low risk for IHD. In the women, we found significant positive correlations of factor VII antigen with total or HDL cholesterol and of prothrombin or factor X with total or LDL cholesterol. In the men, factor VII activity or antigen correlated with total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, or LDL cholesterol; prothrombin or factor X correlated with total cholesterol, triglycerides, or LDL cholesterol. In contrast, we found no significant correlations of fibrinogen with any of the lipid fractions in our groups of men or women. Our data support the hypothesis that control of the levels of the vitamin K-dependent procoagulant proteins is linked to lipid metabolism in the normal physiology of both men and women.