Risk for VTE Up During Five Years After Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

TUESDAY, May 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Men with prostate cancer have an increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE) during the five years after cancer diagnosis, according to a study published online May 23 in BMJ Open.

Yanina Balabanova, from Bayer AG in Berlin, and colleagues conducted a nationwide cohort study in Sweden following 92,105 men with prostate cancer and 466,241 men without prostate cancer matched by birth year and residential region. Crude incidence proportion ratios (IPRs) were used to compare the incidence of VTE in men with and without prostate cancer.

During a median 4.5 years of follow-up, 2,955 men with prostate cancer and 9,774 without experienced a first VTE; in both cohorts, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) accounted for 52 percent of VTE cases. The researchers found that the crude incidence rates of VTE were 6.54 and 4.27 per 1,000 person-years in the prostate cancer cohort and comparison cohort, respectively. There was a decrease in IPR, from 2.53 at six months to 1.59 at five years of follow-up. For DVT and pulmonary embolism, the adjusted hazard ratios were 1.48 and 1.47, respectively, after adjustment for patient characteristics.

“Physicians treating men with prostate cancer should be aware of the marked increase in VTE risk in these men, particularly in the first six months following cancer diagnosis, to help ensure timely VTE diagnosis,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to Bayer; one author also disclosed ties to other pharmaceutical companies.

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