Sex disparities in hospitalization and mortality rates for venous thromboembolism

Abstract

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major health problem for both men and women. Whether sex disparities exist for outcomes after acute VTE is unknown. We sought to measure sex-specific rates of hospitalization for and mortality from acute VTE. We used a population-based administrative dataset from Alberta, Canada, covering the years 2002 to 2012. We used Poisson regression to measure the incidence rate ratio for hospitalization and Cox regression to test for sex disparities in short-term all-cause mortality after adjusting for potential confounders. Of those diagnosed with VTE, 55.9% were women. The proportion of hospitalized women for VTE was 24.4 versus 27.8% in men (p < 0.001). The risk adjusted incidence rate ratio for VTE hospitalization increased with age for both sex. While women younger than 80 years old were less likely to be hospitalized than men, sex disparities for the risk of hospitalization were not significant after age 80 (p = 0.93). The adjusted 90-day all-cause mortality rate for women was 4.0% compared to 4.9% in men (adjusted HR = 1.0, p = 0.49). Women with acute VTE were less likely than men to be hospitalized in most age groups, but sex disparities in short-term all-cause mortality were not found.