Abstract
Background Patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) are at risk of having a subsequent cancer diagnosis. The risk is highest during the first 6 months. Reports on cancer rates thereafter are controversial. We aimed to assess long-term rates and risk factors of cancer in patients with VTE. Methods and Results We followed patients with a first unprovoked VTE after discontinuation of anticoagulation, and excluded those receiving long-term antithrombotic therapy or with major thrombophilia. The study endpoint was the occurrence of cancer. Sixty-two (5.2%) of 1188 patients developed cancer during a median follow-up of 98 months. The cumulative incidence rates of cancer were 0.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.2-1.2%), 3.1% (95% CI 2.0-4.1%) and 9% (95% CI 6.5-11.5) after 1, 5 and 15 years; these were not significantly different from those in the matched general population (0.6%, 3.4%, and 12.2%, respectively). The corresponding standardized incidence ratios (ratio of the observed cancer cases and the number of cases based on national cancer incidence rates) of 1.1 (95% CI 0.5-2.5), 1.0 (95% CI 0.6-1.4) and 0.9 (95% CI 0.7-1.2) did not indicate a difference in cancer incidence between our cohort and the general population. Advancing age (hazard ratio [HR] per decade 1.5, 95% CI 1.2-2.0) and shorter duration of anticoagulation (HR per 1-month decrease 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.6) were associated with an increased cancer risk, whereas VTE recurrence was not (HR 1.17, 95% CI 0.66-2.07). Conclusions Asymptomatic patients with unprovoked VTE who have completed anticoagulation therapy do not have a higher cancer risk. The inverse association between the duration of anticoagulation and the incidence of cancer warrants further investigation.
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