A Genetic Propensity to High Factor VII Is not Associated with the Risk of Myocardial Infarction in Men

Several studies have examined the relation between factor VII andcoronary artery disease by measuring factor VII levels in plasma andsome found an association between high levels and disease. This suffersproblems of interpretation concerning the causality of high factorVII levels, because factor VII levels may be affected by atherogenicrisk factors and may become elevated as a consequence of atherosclerosis.We investigated the association between a genetic variant( 353 ArgRGln), shown to be related to factor VII levels, and myocardialinfarction in a large case-control study, including 560 cases and 644controls. Individuals carrying the 353 Arg-Arg genotype seemed to havea lower risk of myocardial infarction (odds ratio 0.80 [95% confidenceinterval 0.60-1.06]). In this study, we confirmed higher factor VIIantigen and activity level in 529 men homozygous for the 353 Argallele compared with 115 men carriers of the 353 Gln allele (around 20%higher).Our results indicate that a genetic propensity to high factor VIIlevels is not associated with the risk of myocardial infarction. Since weconfirmed the association of the 353 Arg-Arg genotype with higherfactor VII levels, we conclude that high levels of factor VII are not acausal determinant of myocardial infarction