By Katherine Kozlowski, Medical Author and Contributor to Vein News and www. VeinsVeinsVeins.com
What are chronic (persistent) risk factors for the development of venous thromboembolism?
According to the American College of Hematology guidelines, the following are considered chronic (persistent) risk factors for the development of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and venous thromboembolism (VTE):
Active cancer (eg, ongoing chemotherapy
Recurrent or progressive cancer
Inflammatory bowel disease
Autoimmune disorders (eg, antiphospholipid syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis)
Chronic infections
Chronic immobility (eg, spinal cord injury)
The American College of Hematology guidelines further state that chronic risk factors may fluctuate over time (e.g. curative treatment for cancer or clinical waxing and waning of an autoimmune disorder), which may impact the relative risk for the development of recurrent venous thromboembolism. Active cancer is addressed in a future guideline document.
Reference: Thomas L. Ortel, Ignacio Neumann, Walter Ageno, Rebecca Beyth, Nathan P. Clark, Adam Cuker, Barbara A. Hutten, Michael R. Jaff, Veena Manja, Sam Schulman, Caitlin Thurston, Suresh Vedantham, Peter Verhamme, Daniel M. Witt, Ivan D. Florez, Ariel Izcovich, Robby Nieuwlaat, Stephanie Ross, Holger J. Schünemann, Wojtek Wiercioch, Yuan Zhang, Yuqing Zhang. American College of Hematology 2020 guidelines for management of venous thromboembolism: treatment of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Blood Adv 2020; 4(19): 4693-4736.