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Published on: June 2, 2015
Depression and risk of venous thromboembolism: a population-based retrospective cohort study
Cynthia Wei-Sheng Lee1, Chun-Hui Liao, Cheng-Li Lin
1From the Center for Drug Abuse and Addiction (Lee); Departments of Psychiatry (Liao), Radiation Oncology (Liang), and Nuclear Medicine (Kao); PET Center (Kao); and Management Office for Health Data (Lin), China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; and Department of Public Health (Lin), Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science (Liang, Sung, Kao), College of Medicine (Lee, Lin), China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Objective:
This study investigated the relationship between depression and the risk of subsequent venous thromboembolism (VTE) development.
Methods:
We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort analysis by using data for the period of 2000 to 2011 from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000 of Taiwan. A depression cohort comprising 35,274 patients and a nondepression cohort comprising 70,548 patients matched according to sex, age, and index year with no history of VTE were evaluated. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was used to assess the effects of depression and comorbidities, and the Kaplan-Meier method was applied to estimate the cumulative VTE incidence curves.
Results:
Compared with individuals without depression, depressed patients had a 1.38-fold greater risk (95% confidence interval = 1.09-1.73) of developing VTE. This risk was significantly higher in male and younger (≤49 years) patients. In addition, patients with comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, and cancer had a higher risk of depression-associated VTE that was attenuated, although nonsignificantly, by antidepressant use.
Conclusions:
The incidence of VTE in Taiwan is higher in depressed patients than in nondepressed patients. Moreover, men, people 49 years or younger, and patients with comorbidities have a significantly greater risk of VTE after depression.
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