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Unprovoked pulmonary embolism resulted in greater risk for CV events
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Compared with patients with a first provoked pulmonary embolism and patients with no pulmonary embolism, patients with a first unprovoked pulmonary embolism were at elevated risk for subsequent arterial cardiovascular events.
The association between pulmonary embolism and arterial CV events was examined in 259 patients with provoked pulmonary embolism, 95 with unprovoked pulmonary embolism and a control group of 334 patients in whom pulmonary embolism was first suspected then ruled out.
There were 63 arterial CV events. The incidence of arterial CV events was higher among those with unprovoked pulmonary embolism than in patients with provoked pulmonary embolism and patients without pulmonary embolism.
When adjusted, the HR for subsequent CV events was not different between patients with and without pulmonary embolism (HR=1.39; 95% CI, 0.83-2.3), according to the researchers.
The HR was greatly increased, however, for patients with unprovoked pulmonary embolism vs. patients with provoked pulmonary embolism (HR=2.18; 95% CI, 1.1-4.5) and patients without pulmonary embolism (HR=2.62; 95% CI, 1.4-4.9).
Klok FA. Blood. 2009;doi:10.1182/blood-2009-05-220491.