Prediction of VTE in arterial cardiovascular diseases

We will identify risk factors and triggers of VTE in patient groups, and build prediction models that can stratify MI and stroke patients into high and low risk of VTE in order to guide clinical decisions on targeted prevention.

We have extensively investigated the bidirectional relationship between arterial and venous thrombosis. We found that the risk of VTE was substantially increased in the first 6 months after an event of MI or ischemic stroke, and declined rapidly thereafter . This risk was not explained by common atherosclerotic risk factors, and carotid atherosclerosis was not associated with future risk of VTE. Family history of MI was associated with VTE, but this association was not explained by common genetic prothrombotic risk factors. We estimated that 15% of all the VTE cases in the population could be attributed to MI or stroke.

The next step will be to identify risk factors and triggers of VTE in these patient groups, and build prediction models that can stratify MI and stroke patients into high and low risk of VTE in order to guide clinical decisions on targeted prevention. Current knowledge on risk factors and triggers of VTE in MI and stroke patients, particularly in the first months after the event, is scarce, and no risk prediction model exists for these patient groups.

We will build prediction models for VTE based on clinical risk factors, biomarkers and genetic risk factors. Then, we will externally validate the predictive capability of these models.