The incidence of venous thromboembolism in cervical cancer: a nationwide population-based study.
BACKGROUND
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a life-threatening condition that occurs as a complication of cervical cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of VTE in cervical cancer patients during a 5-year follow-up.


METHODS
The study analyzed data deposited between 2003 and 2008 in the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), provided by the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan. Totally, 1013 cervical cancer patients after treatment and 2026 appendectomy patients were eligible. The Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox proportional hazards model were used to assess the VTE risk.


RESULTS
The 5-year cumulative risk for VTE was significantly higher in the cervical cancer group than in the control group (3.3% vs 0.3%, p < 0.001). The hazard ratio for VTE was 10.14 times higher in the cervical cancer group than in the controls. The combined presence of more comorbidities was associated with a higher risk for VTE. Furthermore, cervical cancer patients without VTE had a significantly higher survival (75.3% vs 30.3%, p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The cumulative risk of VTE was significantly higher in cervical cancer patients, and these patients also had lower survival rates. Strategies to reduce these risks need to be examined.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan.
Shiang-Jiun
SJ
Tsai
Ying-Xu
YX
Ruan
Ching-Chih
CC
Lee
Moon-Sing
MS
Lee
Wen-Yen
WY
Chiou
Hon-Yi
HY
Lin
Feng-Chun
FC
Hsu
Yu-Chieh
YC
Su
Shih-Kai
SK
Hung
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D054556:Venous Thromboembolism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*