Risk factors for post-thrombotic syndrome in patients with deep vein thrombosis: from the COMMAND VTE registry

Post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) is the most common chronic complication of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Identifying high-risk patients for the development of PTS might be useful for its prevention. The COMMAND VTE Registry is a multicenter registry that enrolled 3027 consecutive patients with acute symptomatic venous thromboembolisms (VTEs) in Japan between January 2010 and August 2014. The current study population consisted of 1298 patients with lower extremities DVTs who completed 3-year follow-up for those who developed PTS and those without PTS. We investigated risk factors for the development of PTS at the time of DVT diagnosis, using a multivariable logistic regression analysis. Of the entire 1298 study patients, 169 (13%) patients were diagnosed with PTS within 3 years. The rate for anticoagulation discontinuation during follow-up was not significantly different between those with and without PTS. Chronic kidney disease (OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.45-3.39, P < 0.001), leg swelling (OR 4.15, 95% CI 2.25-7.66, P < 0.001), absence of transient risk factors for VTEs (OR 2.39, 95% CI 1.55-3.67, P < 0.001), active cancer (OR 3.66, 95% CI 2.30-5.84, P < 0.001), and thrombophilia (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.06-4.04, P = 0.03) were independent risk factors for the development of PTS. In this real-world Japanese DVT registry, we could identify several important risk factors for the development of PTS at the time of DVT diagnosis.