Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Venous Thromboembolism

Abstract

Background— The concept that venous thromboembolism (VTE) and atherosclerosis are 2 completely distinct entities has recently been challenged because patients with VTE have more asymptomatic atherosclerosis and more cardiovascular events than control subjects. We performed a meta-analysis to assess the association between cardiovascular risk factors and VTE. Methods and Results— Medline and EMBASE databases were searched to identify studies that evaluated the prevalence of major cardiovascular risk factors in VTE patients and control subjects. Studies were selected using a priori defined criteria, and each study was reviewed by 2 authors who abstracted data on study characteristics, study quality, and outcomes. Odds ratios or weighted means and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were then calculated and pooled using a random-effects model. Statistical heterogeneity was evaluated through the use of χ2 and I2 statistics. Twenty-one case-control and cohort studies with a total of 63 552 patients met the inclusio...