Lipid lowering drugs and the risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism

Abstract

Introduction: Several studies have suggested that statins may lower the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), whereas fibrates may increase this risk. However, no studies have evaluated whether lipid-lowering drugs (LLD) use was associated with the risk of VTE recurrence.

Materials and methods: In a prospective cohort study, we followed-up all patients who had been treated for a first unprovoked VTE event in our centre. The association between LLD exposure and risk of recurrence of VTE after discontinuation of anticoagulation was analyzed with Cox proportional hazards model with adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, site of thrombosis, antiplatelets use, and duration of anticoagulation before inclusion in the study.

Results: 432 patients (median age 65.5 years interquartile range 45.0-75.0, 174 men) were followed up for a median of 29.5 months after discontinuation of anticoagulation. Sixty patients (13.9%) had recurrent VTE. During follow-up, 48 patients (11.1%) received statins, 36 patients (8.3%) received fibrates. In multivariate analysis, the risk of recurrent VTE associated with statin exposure was 1.02 (95% confidence interval 0.36-2.91) and 2.15 (95% confidence interval 1.01-4.61) for fibrate exposure.

Conclusion: Our results suggest an association between fibrate intake and an increased risk of recurrent VTE, whereas statin intake was not associated with recurrent VTE. Larger studies are needed to validate these results.