Thrombosis Research 91 (1998) 241–248 BRIEF COMMUNICATION Relative Influence of Age and Thrombotic History on Hemostatic Parameters S. Javorschi 1 , S. Richard-Harston 2 , S. Labrouche 1 , G. Manciet 2 and G. Freyburger 1 1 Laboratoire d’He ´ matologie, Ho ˆ pital Pellegrin, 33076 Bordeaux, France; 2 Service de Me ´ decine Interne-Ge ´ riatrie, Ho ˆ pital Xavier Arnozan, 33600 Pessac, France. (Received 10 March 1998 by Editor E. Angle ´ s-Cano; revised/accepted 25 May 1998) Key Words: Aging; Thrombosis; Hemostasis; Inflammation focus on alterations in physiological anticoagu- lants. Fibrinogen, vWF and plasminogen activator A cquired alterations in hemostatic parameters inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) have been more studied with regard to arterial risk than with regard to venous can be the result of both thrombotic events and aging. Indeed, aging is associ- thrombosis, although they may also be involved in the latter. One explanation is that arterial patholo- ated with an increased risk of deep venous throm- bosis (DVT) and ischemic stroke (IS), which may gies are treated in specific medical care units whereas venous pathologies are usually diagnosed be due to physiological alterations of the hemo- static system or the vessel wall. Moreover, the inci- in many different types of unit. Studying the inci- dence of predisposing conditions (hypertension, dence of age and thrombotic events on hemostatic immobility, malignancies, surgery) increases with alterations, either venously or arterially localized, age. Table 1 summarizes several studies reporting may thus throw light both on base-line values and influence of aging or of thrombotic events on he- thrombosis-related alterations. Indeed, recogniz- mostasis parameters, but no study has considered ing thrombosis-associated changes in hemostasis in both aging and thrombotic events together in a elderly subjects implies that “physiological changes” large assay of variables assessing inflammation, ac- have been previously identified to constitute a tivation of coagulation, anticoagulation, and fibri- base-line pattern in elderly subjects, thereby en- nolysis. Aging-related alterations have been stud- abling additional alterations to be determined. The ied in healthy subjects [1–8] while alterations present study was thus undertaken to establish the related to thrombotic events have mostly been relative weight of aging itself and thrombotic studied in young patients (less than 45 [8] or 60 events in the hemostatic changes observed, by se- years old [10]), except for fibrinogen and VIIIc in lecting different groups of patients of varying age the Framingham Study [11], which includes pa- (elderly vs. young) and clinical history (thrombosis tients aged from 35 to 94 years. Generally, these or not). studies only concern arterial diseases [9–12]. More- over, studies of venous thrombosis risk generally 1. Materials and Methods Abbreviations: DVT, deep venous thrombosis; IS, ischemic stroke; 1.1. Patients and Controls ELP-P, elderly patients; YOU-P, young patients; TAT, thrombin- antithrombin complexes; PC, protein C; PS, protein S; ATIII, antithrombin III; PAI-1, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. The study concerned 326 subjects: 155 men and Corresponding author: S. Javorschi, Laboratoire d’He ´ matologie, 171 women ranging in age from 8 to 99 years. Of Ho ˆ pital Pellegrin, 33076 Bordeaux, France. Tel: +33 (556) 79 55 09; Fax: +33 (556) 79 60 79; E-mail: freyburg@quaternet.fr. these, 71 (31 men and 40 women) had undergone an 0049-3848/98 $–see front matter  1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. PII S0049-3848(98)00104-2