A high plasma concentration of factor VII procoagulant activity is considered an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease. Recently, two polymorphisms of factor VII gene (insertion of a decanucleotide at -323 [A2], and the variant Q353) have been associated with 20-25% lower levels of this protein in plasma. In this study, the prevalence of these two factor VII polymorphisms were evaluated in relation to the development of acute thromboembolic events. Thus, we conducted three case-control studies of patients diagnosed with acute coronary syndromes, acute cerebrovascular events and deep venous thrombosis (101, 104 and 97 cases, respectively). No significant differences were detected in the prevalence of these polymorphisms between patients and controls, suggesting that the A1/A2 or R/Q alleles do not play an important role in the development of thromboembolic episodes.