Association of Plasma Fibrinogen Level with Insulin Resistance in Angiographically Confirmed Coronary Artery Disease Patients.

Fibrinogen is an important coagulation factor that plays a key role in thrombus formation. The co-existence of CAD, insulin resistance (IR) and coagulation incongruity are believed to exacerbate the existing condition towards more lethal pathological events.The purpose of current study was to find out a possible association between fibrinogen and IR in CAD patients. The study population consist of 135 participants; 82 angiographically confirmed CAD patients who visited the outpatient department at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH), Jeddah and 53 healthy control individuals. Peripheral blood samples were collected from CAD patients and healthy control individuals. Various biochemical parameters such as complete blood count, C-reactive protein (CRP), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), insulin, C-peptide, lipid profile, platelet, partial thromboplastin time (PTT), fibrinogen and D-dimer levels were measured by the use of different analytical methods. Calculation of homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) and non-HDL were done by using online tools. Among the studied parameters, majority of the conventional risk factors were found to be significantly increased in CAD patients compared with control individuals. Different coagulation components such as fibrinogen (223.8 vs. 394 mg/dL), D-dimer (0.25 vs. 0.63 mg/L), platelet (222.9 vs. 245.9 K/uL) and PTT (27.6 vs. 29.6 seconds) were also found to be significantly enhanced in CAD patients. Based on the severity of IR [HOMA index up to 3 and ≥ 3], comparison with different parameters such as fibrinogen, D-dimer, C-peptide and insulin in CAD groups were also made. As per HOMA index, fibrinogen level was found to be significantly increased in below and above 3 categories. Moreover, C-peptide (P < 0.01) and insulin (P < 0.001) levels also showed significant association with both HOMA groups. Our study provides an insight towards the association of fibrinogen and IR in CAD patients with respect to severity.