title: Protein C, antithrombin III and plasminogen: effect of age, sex and blood group.
abstract: We conducted a cross-sectional study of antithrombin III (ATIII), protein C (PC) and plasminogen (Plg) concentrations in a population of healthy plasma donors in the Trent Region. The distribution of values for protein C was log normal whereas for ATIII and Plg the distributions were positively skewed and differed significantly from normal and log normal. Males had higher antithrombin III concentrations (mean 1.10 iu/ml, range 0.72-1.65) than females (mean 1.07 iu/ml, range 0.75-1.69) (P = 0.001) and levels increased with age in women. Younger women aged 25-34 had significantly lower plasma concentrations of ATIII compared to males of similar age. For protein C, concentrations were higher in males (mean 1.07 u/ml, range 0.37-2.11) than in females (mean 1.01 u/ml, range 0.59-1.61) (P < 0.001) and levels increased with age in both sexes P < 0.001). In women, a novel difference in protein C concentration between ABO blood groups was noted. There was no significant difference in plasminogen concentration between males and females, and in women plasminogen decreased with age (r = -0.205, P < 0.001). We conclude that these variations in ATIII and protein C with age and sex are important considerations in the determination of reference ranges for these proteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dolan
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Neal
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Preston
mesh_terms: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System / Q000502:physiology; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood*; D000990:Antithrombin III / Q000032:analysis*; D001782:Blood Donors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010958:Plasminogen / Q000032:analysis*; D011486:Protein C / Q000032:analysis*; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System; D011486:Protein C; D000990:Antithrombin III; D010958:Plasminogen