Coronary Artery Calcification and Risk Factors for Atherosclerosis in Patients with Venous Thromboembolism

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) and atherosclerosis may be associated and may share common risk factors. We conducted a retrospective case-control study to investigate the association between VTE and coronary atherosclerotic disease (CAD) by means of measuring coronary artery calcification and evaluating clinical risk factors.

Methods: From 385 consecutive patients suspected of VTE, we randomly selected 89 cases with idiopathic VTE and 89 controls without VTE, frequency matched on gender and age. Risk factors for atherosclerosis were noted for both groups. Coronary artery calcification was quantified on pulmonary computed tomography (CT) angiographic images. The coronary artery calcification and risk factors were compared between the case and control groups. The associations between VTE and the presence of coronary artery calcium and risk factors were assessed with logistic regression analysis.

Results: A higher prevalence of coronary artery calcium was found in the case group (51.7%) than in the control group (28.1%) (p=0.001). The presence of coronary artery calcium was significantly associated with VTE with an odds ratio of 4.3 (95% confidence interval, 1.9-10.1) in a multivariable model. Diabetes mellitus and hypertension were also significantly associated with VTE.

Conclusion: A significant association between VTE and CAD suggests that CAD is an independent risk factor for VTE. Diabetes and hypertension are also independent risk factors for VTE.