Analysis of Venous Thromboembolism Risk in Patients With Lymphoma

Researchers identified multiple significant risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with lymphoma, according to a recently published meta-analysis. Results were reported in the journal Oncology Nursing Forum.

The meta-analysis included reports of VTE in patients with lymphoma, identified through searches of Embase®, Web of Science, PubMed®, and Cochrane Library databases from the inception of each until February 2023.

Overall, 17 observational studies (9 cohort, 8 case-control), representing 7 countries across 3 continents, met the study’s inclusion criteria for analysis. Investigators rated 14 of the studies as good quality and 3 as fair quality. Of the 21,125 patients included in the analysis, 1728 developed VTE.

Overall, the meta-analysis identified multiple factors as being significantly associated with risk of VTE in patients with lymphoma (P <.05). These included female sex, older age, history of VTE, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma diagnosis, Ann Arbor stage III or IV disease, a higher Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score, bulky disease, central nervous system involvement, a white blood cell count above 11×10⁹/L, a D-dimer level above 0.5 mg/L, central venous catheterization, and doxorubicin treatment.

VTE prevalence across the studies was reported to range from 3.09% to 30.77%, with a pooled prevalence of 12% (range, 9% to 15%). A subgroup analysis of 16 studies reporting VTE prevalence in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) or non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) showed the VTE prevalence to be 10% and 12%, respectively.

While the researchers considered the analysis to have reliably identified multiple significant risk factors of VTE in this study population, they concluded that “… more high-quality studies are needed to confirm these risk factors and provide effective early warning and preventive measures for VTE in patients with lymphoma, thereby reducing the incidence and mortality of VTE in clinical practice.”