Epidemiology of venous thromboembolism in hematological cancers: The Scandinavian Thrombosis and Cancer (STAC) cohort

Inger Lise Gade; Sigrid Brækkan; Inger Anne Næss; John-Bjarne Hansen; Frits Rosendaal; Suzanne Cannegieter; Kim Overvad; Hilde Jensvoll; Jens Hammerstrøm; Olga Vikhammer Gran; Anne Tjønneland; Søren Risom Kristensen; Marianne Tang Severinsen

doi:10.1016/j.thromres.2017.09.002

Epidemiology of venous thromboembolism in hematological cancers: The Scandinavian Thrombosis and Cancer (STAC) cohort

Thromb Res. 2017 Oct:158:157-160. doi: 10.1016/j.thromres.2017.09.002. Epub 2017 Sep 5.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark. Electronic address: inlg@rn.dk.
² K.G. Jebsen Thrombosis Research and Expertice Centre (TREC), Department of Clinical Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway; Division of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
³ Department of Hematology, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
⁴ Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Public Health, Section for Epidemiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Department of Cardiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
⁶ Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
⁷ K.G. Jebsen Thrombosis Research and Expertice Centre (TREC), Department of Clinical Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
⁸ Diet, Genes and Environment, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁹ Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark; Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
¹⁰ Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark; Department of Hematology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.

PMID: 28926801
DOI: 10.1016/j.thromres.2017.09.002

Abstract

Introduction: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer patients, however the risk of VTE differs according to cancer type. Hematological cancers have varying phenotypes. Incidence rates (IR) of VTE in different hematological cancer types have not been investigated in a cancer-exposed subset of the general population.

Methods: In a population-based cohort, we estimated incidence rates of VTE among patients with six subtypes of hematological cancer and among age and sex matched reference subjects.

Results: During a mean follow-up of 4.8years, 30 objectively confirmed first-time symptomatic VTEs occurred among 838 subjects with hematological cancer. The IR of VTE was higher in all types of cancer except for indolent lymphoma but including chronic lymphocytic leukemia compared with reference subjects both during the first year after cancer diagnosis and 1-5years after diagnosis. IR of VTE for indolent lymphoma was not higher than controls.

Conclusion: The IRs of VTE were increased in all types of hematological cancer (including chronic lymphocytic leukemia) compared with reference subjects except indolent lymphomas.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Hematologic neoplasm; Venous thromboembolism.

MeSH terms

Aged
Cohort Studies
Female
Hematologic Neoplasms / complications*
Hematologic Neoplasms / epidemiology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Scandinavian and Nordic Countries
Venous Thromboembolism / epidemiology*