Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality [
[1]
]. VTE represents a major health problem for high prevalence, incidence, and costs
[
[2]
]. The number of people affected by VTE is unknown, although as many as 900,000 people
could be affected (1 to 2 per 1,000) each year in the United States [
[2]
]. Estimates suggest that 10 to 30% of people will die within one month of diagnosis
and that sudden death is the first symptom in about one-quarter (25%) of those who
have a PE. Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) and direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are
highly effective for the acute and long-term treatment of VTE and VTE recurrences,[
[3]
,
[4]
but are burdened by a two- to threefold increased risk of causing a clinically significant
bleeding episode compared with placebo [
[3]
,
[4]
]. On the other hand, if anticoagulation therapy is discontinued, the risk of VTE
recurrence is up to 10% per year in patients with unprovoked VTE,[
[5]
] while the recurrence rate of VTE during anticoagulation is 3% in the first 3 to 6
months [
[6]
,
- Bauersachs R
- Berkowitz SD
- Brenner B
- Buller HR
- Decousus H
- Gallus AS
- Lensing AW
- Misselwitz F
- Prins MH
- Raskob GE
- Segers A
- Verhamme P
- Wells P
- Agnelli G
- Bounameaux H
- Cohen A Davidson BL
- Piovella F
- Schellong S
EINSTEIN Investigators
Oral rivaroxaban for symptomatic venous thromboembolism.
Oral rivaroxaban for symptomatic venous thromboembolism.
N Engl J Med. 2010; 363: 2499-2510
[7]
]. Therefore, it is important to warrant medications capable of decreasing the risk
of VTE recurrences without increasing the risk of major bleeding and mortality. Currently,
the role of statins during anticoagulation for VTE is a matter of debate. Preliminary
data are available on primary and secondary prevention as well as on bleeding and
mortality rates in statins users during anticoagulation for VTE [
[8]
].To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 07, 2020
Accepted:
April 8,
2020
Received in revised form:
April 3,
2020
Received:
March 11,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
