The association between the fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio and coronary artery disease severity in patients with stable coronary artery disease

Objective Fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio (FAR) is an inexpensive and easily measurable novel inflammatory index that has been found to be associated with atherosclerosis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between the FAR and coronary artery disease (CAD) severity in patients with stable CAD. Methods In total, 356 consecutive patients with CAD were classified into three groups, those with a low Synergy between percutaneous coronary intervention and the Taxus and Cardiac Surgery Study (SYNTAX) score (≤22), those with an intermediate SYNTAX score (23≥ SYNTAX score ≤32) and those with a high SYNTAX score (>32). Results We determined that there were significant differences in the mean age ( P < 0.001), male gender ( P = 0.008), serum fibrinogen ( P = 0.03), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ( P < 0.001) and FAR ( P < 0.001) among the SYNTAX score groups. A strong positive correlation was detected between FAR and SYNTAX score ( r = 0.899; P < 0.001), and the cutoff level of FAR for high SYNTAX score was 82 (sensitivity of 82%, specificity of 88.3% and an area under the curve of 0.826). Conclusion The novel inflammatory index, FAR, is significantly associated with the severity of CAD in patients with stable CAD.