Asymptomatic Deep Vein Thrombosis is Associated with an Increased Risk of Death: Insights from the APEX Trial. Thrombosis and haemostasis Kalayci, A., Gibson, C. M., Chi, G., Yee, M. K., Korjian, S., Datta, S., Nafee, T., Gurin, M., Haroian, N., Qamar, I., Hull, R. D., Hernandez, A. F., Cohen, A. T., Harrington, R. A., Goldhaber, S. Z. 2018

Abstract

AIM: Asymptomatic deep vein thrombosis (DVT) diagnosed with compression ultrasound (CUS) is a common endpoint in trials assessing the efficacy of anticoagulants to prevent venous thromboembolism (VTE), but the relationship of asymptomatic thrombus to mortality remains uncertain.METHODS: In the APEX trial (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01583218), 7,513 acutely ill hospitalized medical patients were randomly assigned to extended-duration betrixaban (35-42 days) or enoxaparin (10±4 days). Asymptomatic DVT was assessed once with CUS between day 32 and 47, and mortality was assessed through 77 days.RESULTS: A total of 309 asymptomatic DVTs were detected through CUS. Of these, 133 (4.27%) subjects were in the betrixaban group, and 176 (5.55%) subjects were in the enoxaparin group (relative risk=0.77, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.62-0.97, p=0.025, number needed to treat=79). With respect to all-cause mortality due to cardiovascular diseases, non-cardiovascular diseases and unknown causes, the number of the deaths was 5 (1.67%), 4 (1.34%) and 1 (0.33%) in the asymptomatic DVT group and 25 (0.42%), 33 (0.56%) and 11 (0.19%) in the no DVT group, respectively. Subjects with an asymptomatic DVT had an almost threefold increase in the risk of all-cause mortality compared with subjects without DVT (hazard ratio=2.87, 95% CI=1.48-5.57, p=0.001). A positive linear trend was observed between greater thrombus burden and mortality during the follow-up (p=0.019).CONCLUSION: Asymptomatic DVT was associated with approximately threefold increased risk of short-term all-cause mortality in patients hospitalized with an acute medical illness within the prior 77 days. A positive linear trend was observed between greater thrombus burden and mortality during the follow-up.

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