Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is a systemic disorder that predominantly affects the bowels but is also associated with venous thromboembolism (VTE).
Aim: To provide a quantitative assessment of the association of IBD with venous thromboembolism risk and to explore the possible sources of heterogeneity in the current literature, a meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies was conducted.
Methods: Studies were identified by a literature search of the PubMed and Scopus databases (from inception inclusive 31 December 2012) for English language studies. Summary relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated with fixed- and random-effects models. Several subgroup analyses were performed to explore potential study heterogeneity and bias.
Results: Eleven studies met our inclusion criteria. The summary RR for deep venous thromboembolism (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) comparing subjects both with and without IBD was 2.20 (95% CI 1.83-2.65). After adjusting for obesity and smoking, summary relative risks near 2.0 were seen for venous thromboembolism in both UC and CD patients.
Conclusion: This meta-analysis showed that inflammatory bowel disease is associated with an approximately two-fold increase in the risk of venous thromboembolism.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.