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Global assays, such as resonance-thrombography (RTG), which measure the interaction between platelets, coagulation and fibrinolysis have been used as summary measures of risk for over two decades but have not been evaluated in epidemiological studies. We examined whether RTG indices are risk indicators for incident coronary heart disease (CHD). RTG indices, related haematological variables and other risk factors were measured between 1984 and 1988 in a cohort of 2398 British men. Reaction time (r) and amplitude of fibrin leg (AF) were associated with lifestyle risk factors. During 9 years of follow-up, 282 (12%) men developed a major new CHD event, as classified by World Health Organization criteria. On adjustment for age, only r and AF measured at baseline were related to risk of incident CHD. On multivariate adjustment in a multiple logistic regression model that included age, diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, lifestyle risk factors and use of prescribed medicine, these associations weakened but remained significant. Additional adjustment for fibrinogen, viscosity, white cell count and fibrin D-dimer either reduced these associations to non- significance (AF) or to borderline significance(r).