Wei-Sheng Chung1, Cheng-Li Lin2, Fung-Chang Sung3, Chuan-Chin Lu1, Chia-Hung Kao4. 1. Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Healthcare Administration, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan. 2. Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. 3. Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science and School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. Electronic address: csung@mail.cmu.edu.tw. 4. Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science and School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Nuclear Medicine and PET Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. Electronic address: d10040@mail.cmuh.org.tw.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The number of previous studies on the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with dermatomyositis/polymyositis (DM/PM) is limited. Therefore, we conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study to investigate the effects of DM/PM on the risk of VTE. METHODS: We identified patients with newly diagnosed DM/PM in Taiwan between 2000 and 2010 using the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) and the Catastrophic Illness Patient Database. Each DM/PM patient was frequency-matched to 4 control patients according to age, sex, and index year. All of the patients were observed from the index date until the occurrence of a VTE event, censor, or until December 31, 2010. We calculated the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of VTE in the DM/PM and comparison cohorts using the Cox proportional hazards regression model. RESULTS: We followed up with the 2031 DM/PM patients (67.8% women, mean age of 46.1 y) and 8124 control patients for 9987 and 48 081 person-years, respectively. The DM/PM patients exhibited an 11.1-fold increased risk of VTE compared with that of the non-DM/PM comparison cohort after adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidities (95% CI=5.21-23.6). The older patients with DM/PM exhibited a multiplicative increased risk of VTE development compared with that of the control patients (adjusted HR=26.8, 95% CI=8.55-84.2), and the DM/PM patients with any comorbidity showed an additive risk of developing VTE (adjusted HR=33.3, 95% CI=11.2-99.4). CONCLUSION: The risk of VTE is significantly higher in DM/PM patients than in non-DM/PM patients.
OBJECTIVES: The number of previous studies on the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with dermatomyositis/polymyositis (DM/PM) is limited. Therefore, we conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study to investigate the effects of DM/PM on the risk of VTE. METHODS: We identified patients with newly diagnosed DM/PM in Taiwan between 2000 and 2010 using the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) and the Catastrophic Illness Patient Database. Each DM/PM patient was frequency-matched to 4 control patients according to age, sex, and index year. All of the patients were observed from the index date until the occurrence of a VTE event, censor, or until December 31, 2010. We calculated the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of VTE in the DM/PM and comparison cohorts using the Cox proportional hazards regression model. RESULTS: We followed up with the 2031 DM/PM patients (67.8% women, mean age of 46.1 y) and 8124 control patients for 9987 and 48 081 person-years, respectively. The DM/PM patients exhibited an 11.1-fold increased risk of VTE compared with that of the non-DM/PM comparison cohort after adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidities (95% CI=5.21-23.6). The older patients with DM/PM exhibited a multiplicative increased risk of VTE development compared with that of the control patients (adjusted HR=26.8, 95% CI=8.55-84.2), and the DM/PM patients with any comorbidity showed an additive risk of developing VTE (adjusted HR=33.3, 95% CI=11.2-99.4). CONCLUSION: The risk of VTE is significantly higher in DM/PM patients than in non-DM/PM patients.