Risk of venous thromboembolism in men with prostate cancer compared with men in the general population: a nationwide population-based cohort study in Sweden

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the additional risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in men with prostate cancer compared with men without prostate cancer in Sweden. DESIGN: Nationwide cohort study following 92 105 men with prostate cancer and 466 241 men without prostate cancer (comparison cohort) matched 5:1 by birth year and residential region. SETTING: The male general population of Sweden (using the Nationwide Prostate Cancer data Base Sweden). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Crude incidence proportion ratios (IPRs) comparing the incidence of VTE in men with prostate cancer and men in the comparison cohort. Cox regression was used to calculate HRs for VTE adjusted for confounders. RESULTS: 2955 men with prostate cancer and 9774 men in the comparison cohort experienced a first VTE during a median of 4.5 years’ follow-up. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) accounted for 52% of VTE cases in both cohorts. Median time from start of follow-up to VTE was 2.5 years (IQR 0.9–4.7) in the prostate cancer cohort and 2.9 years (IQR 1.3–5.0) in the comparison cohort. Crude incidence rates of VTE per 1000 person-years were 6.54 (95% CI 6.31 to 6.78) in the prostate cancer cohort (n=2955 events) and 4.27 (95% CI 4.18 to 4.35) in the comparison cohort (n=9774 events). The IPR decreased from 2.53 (95% CI 2.26 to 2.83) at 6 months to 1.59 (95% CI 1.52 to 1.67) at 5 years’ follow-up. Adjusted HRs were 1.48 (95% CI 1.39 to 1.57) for DVT and 1.47 (95% CI 1.39 to 1.56) for pulmonary embolism after adjustment for patient characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Swedish men with prostate cancer had a mean 50% increased risk of VTE during the 5 years following their cancer diagnosis compared with matched men free of prostate cancer. Physicians should be mindful of this marked increase in VTE risk in men with prostate cancer to help ensure timely diagnosis.