Incidence of thrombophilia detected in southern Taiwanese patients with venous thrombosis.

In order to analyze the incidence of thrombophilia in southern Taiwan, we studied the prevalence of antithrombin (AT), protein C (PC), and protein S (PS) deficiencies, the prevalence of factor V Leiden mutation, and the presence of acquired lupus anticoagulant (LA) and anticardiolipin antibody (ACA) in 56 patients < or =65 years old with deep venous thrombosis (DVT). Of 56 patients, 30 were male, 26 female, and the mean age of the patients was 43 years (18-65 years). None had factor V mutation or activated PC resistance; 21 patients (37.5%) showed abnormal results: 4 (7.1%) had AT deficiencies, 6 (10.7%) PC deficiencies, 6 (10.7%) PS deficiencies, 2 (3.6%) a combined PC and PS deficiency, and 3 (5.4%) LA and ACA. Only PC and PS deficiencies were significantly associated with increased risk for the development of thrombosis with an odds ratio of 4.2 (95% confidence interval: 1.2-15.0, P=0.018) and 8.1 (95% confidence interval: 1.6-40.6, P=0.003), respectively. We concluded that the prevalence of heritable thrombophilia (34.0%) in Taiwan is higher than that in Western countries, but that it is lower than previously reported in Hong Kong and Taiwan. We attribute this to selection bias.