title: Clinical characteristics of first venous thrombosis among women under and over 45 years of age.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Venous thromboembolism is a multifactorial disease defined by multiple interactions between genetic and acquired risk factors. After coronary heart disease and stroke, venous thromboembolism is the most common cause of cardiovascular death and disability.
  
  
  METHODS
  In order to investigate the clinical characteristics of first venous thromboembolism, 447 women younger than 45 and 174 over 45 years of age with confirmed venous thromboembolism, who had been tested for the presence of thrombophilia in the period 1998-2012, were included in the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Proximal deep vein thrombosis occurred most often among young women, while distal deep vein thrombosis was the most frequent in the older group. The most common reported risk for venous thromboembolism observed in 49.8% of the young women was pregnancy and puerperium, while 25.2% of them developed venous thromboembolism without any obvious cause. Among women over the age of 45, venous thromboembolism developed without an obvious cause in 38.5%, while malignant disease was identified as the most important risk factor in 23% of them. Thrombophilia was observed in 48.7% of the young women in comparison to 28.7% of the older ones (p < 0.0001). As for venous thromboembolism recurrence, it developed in 26.3% of young women and 17.8% of the older ones (p = 0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Younger women developed more severe forms of thrombosis than the older ones. Inherited risk factor for thrombosis was detected in almost half of all young women, and in every fourth elderly women. With the exception of factor V Leiden mutation, other types of congenital thrombophilia are almost negligible among older women. Therefore, thrombophilia testing in case of first thrombosis is fully justified only in young women.
authors.forename: Mirjana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kovač
authors.forename: Željko
authors.initials: Ž
authors.lastname: Miković
authors.forename: Vesna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mandić
authors.forename: Dragica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Radojković
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Đorđević
authors.forename: Gorana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mitić
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D055771:Serbia; D054556:Venous Thromboembolism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult