Does male sex increase the risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism compared to female sex in patients with a first VTE?
Men have a significantly higher risk of recurrent VTE after a first unprovoked event compared to women, suggesting they may warrant greater consideration for indefinite anticoagulation.
In patients with a first unprovoked venous thromboembolism, men have a 2.2-fold higher risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism than do women, which remained 1.8-fold higher in men after adjustment for previous hormone associated venous thromboembolism in women. In patients with a first provoked venous thromboembolism, risk of recurrence does not differ between men and women with or without hormone associated venous thromboembolism. Indefinite anticoagulation may be given greater consideration in men than in women after a first venous thromboembolism.
Douketis et al. (Thu,) studied this question.