Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Nov 7;3(11):e003135.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003135.

Statin treatment and risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism: a nationwide cohort study

Cu Dinh Nguyen  1 , Charlotte Andersson, Thomas Bo Jensen, Anne Gjesing, Anne-Marie Schjerning Olsen, Carolina Malta Hansen, Harry Büller, Christian Torp-Pedersen, Gunnar H Gislason
Affiliations

Statin treatment and risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism: a nationwide cohort study

Cu Dinh Nguyen et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: Statins may decrease the risk of primary venous thromboembolism (VTE), that is, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) but the effect of statins in preventing recurrent VTE is less clear. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the association between statin therapy and risk of recurrent VTE.

Design: A prospective cohort study.

Setting: All hospitals in Denmark.

Participants: All patients with a hospital diagnosis of VTE in Denmark during 1997-2009 associated with a warfarin or heparin prescription were identified.

Main outcome measures: Adjusted HR of recurrent hospitalised VTE (ie, fatal or non-fatal DVT or PE) associated with use of statins.

Results: 44 330 patients with VTE were included in the study. Of these 3914 were receiving statin therapy at baseline. Patients receiving statins were older (68±11 compared to 62±18 years), had more comorbidity and used more medications. The incidence rate for recurrent VTE was 24.4 (95% CI 22.8 to 26.2) per 1000 person-years among statin users and 48.5 (95% CI 47.4 to 49.7) per 1000 person-years among non-statin users. Statin use was associated with a significantly lower risk of a recurrent VTE, adjusted HR 0.74 (95% CI 0.68 to 0.80), compared with no statin use. The association between statin use and risk of recurrent VTE was significantly affected by age. Among younger individuals (≤80 years), statin use was associated with lower risk of recurrent VTE, HR 0.70 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.76) whereas in older individuals (>80 years) statin use was significantly associated with higher risk of recurrent VTE, HR 1.28 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.60), p for interaction=<0.0001.

Conclusions: Statin use was associated with a decreased risk of recurrent VTE.

Keywords: EPIDEMIOLOGY; VASCULAR MEDICINE.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Fowkes FJ, Price JF, Fowkes FG. Incidence of diagnosed deep vein thrombosis in the general population: systematic review. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg 2003;25:1–5 - PubMed
    1. Heit JA. The epidemiology of venous thromboembolism in the community: implications for prevention and management. J Thromb Thrombolysis 2006;21:23–9 - PubMed
    1. Nuttall M, van der Meulen J, Emberton M. Charlson scores based on ICD-10 administrative data were valid in assessing comorbidity in patients undergoing urological cancer surgery. J Clin Epidemiol 2006;59:265–73 - PubMed
    1. Christiansen SC, Cannegieter SC, Koster T, et al. Thrombophilia, clinical factors, and recurrent venous thrombotic events. JAMA 2005;293:2352–61 - PubMed
    1. Surgically confirmed gallbladder disease, venous thromboembolism, and breast tumors in relation to postmenopausal estrogen therapy A report from the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, Boston University Medical Center. New Eng J Med 1974;290:15–19 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources