Hemostatic factors and the risk of myocardial infarction

To the Editor: On the basis of a two-year follow-up, Thompson et al. (March 9 issue)¹ conducted a prospective study to evaluate the influence of hemostatic factors on cardiovascular risk. The authors report that patients with high cholesterol levels but low fibrinogen levels had a low risk of coronary events. They conclude that the fibrinogen level can be used to identify patients with hypercholesterolemia who are at particularly high risk for coronary events. We think that an important factor has not been considered in this conclusion. The concentration of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is known to be inversely correlated with.