Mortality and inherited thrombophilia: results from the European Prospective Cohort on Thrombophilia.

BACKGROUND: Data on the survival of individuals with hereditary thrombophilia are rare and only come from retrospective studies.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to assess mortality in individuals with known thrombophilia with and without a history of thrombosis in comparison to a control group.

PATIENTS/METHODS: The European Prospective Cohort on Thrombophilia (EPCOT) study is a prospective, multi-center observational study performed to assess the risk of thrombosis in persons with inherited thrombophilia. In an extension of the present study, the vital status was assessed in 1240 individuals with thrombophilia (mean age 40.9 years, 59% women, 196 with antithrombin, 341 with protein C, 276 with protein S-deficiency, 330 with factor (F)V Leiden and 97 with combined defects, and 62% with a history of venous thrombosis [VT]) and 875 controls (mean age 42.5 years, 48% women, 7% with a history of VT).

RESULTS: Seventy-two individuals with thrombophilia and 45 controls died during follow-up. The risk of death, adjusted for gender, thrombosis history and center, was not associated with thrombophilia (hazard ratio [HR] thrombophilia individuals vs. controls: 1.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.66-1.78). When individuals with thrombophilia were evaluated separately, a history of thrombosis was not associated with mortality: the risk of death after adjustment for gender, anticoagulation and center was HR 0.79 (95% CI, 0.41-1.54).

CONCLUSIONS: No increased risk of death in individuals with thrombophilia, not even in those with a history of thrombosis, was observed.