Incidence and predictors of venous thromboembolism (VTE) among ambulatory high-risk cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in the United States
Cancer, 08/17/2012
Khorana AA et al. – This large, contemporary, real-world analysis confirmed high rates of VTE in select patients with solid tumors and suggested that the incidence of VTE is high in the real-world setting. Awareness of the benefits of targeted thromboprophylaxis may result in a clinically significant reduction in the burden of VTE in this population.
Methods- Data were extracted from a large health care claims database of commercially insured patients in the United States between 2004 and 2009.
- Demographic and clinical characteristics of the cancer cohort (N = 17,284) and an age/sex-matched, noncancer control cohort were evaluated.
- VTE incidence was recorded during a 3-month to 12-month follow-up period after the initiation of chemotherapy.
- Multivariate analyses were conducted to identify independent predictors of VTE and bleeding.
- The mean age of the study population was 64 years, and 51% of patients were women.
- VTE occurred in 12.6% of the cancer cohort (n = 2170) over 12 months after the initiation of chemotherapy versus 1.4% of controls (n = 237; P < .0001); incidence ranged by cancer type from 19.2% (pancreatic cancer) to 8.2% (bladder cancer).
- Predictors of VTE included type of cancer, comorbidities (Charlson Comorbidity Index score or obesity), and commonly used specific antineoplastic or supportive care agents (cisplatin, bevacizumab, and erythropoietin).
