Abdominal obesity and the risk of recurrent deep vein thrombosis

Background: Abdominal obesity has been found to be associated with an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Whether patients with abdominal obesity have an increased risk of recurrence is currently unknown. Methods: Patients with objective diagnosis of DVT and a life expectancy of greater than 6 months underwent measurement of the circumference of the waist. A waist circumference of greater than 102 cm for men and greater than 88 cm for women defined abdominal obesity. Information on age, gender, and on the presence of risk factors for DVT was collected. At follow-up, all patients underwent serial compression ultrasound of the lower limbs and were clinically evaluated every 6 months. Results: One hundred patients were enrolled, 58 with abdominal obesity and 42 without. Mean age was 64.5 and 57.3 years, respectively (p<0.05). Percentage of mate patients was 32.8% and 81.0% (p<0.01). Unprovoked DVT and transient risk factors rates were similar in both groups. Overall, recurrent DVT was documented in 29 patients, 16 in patients with abdominal obesity (27.6%) and 13 in patients without (31.0%). At the multivariate regression analysis HR for VTE recurrence in abdominal obese patients was 1.26 (95% confidence interval =0.47-3.4). Conclusions: Abdominal obesity does not seem to modify the risk of recurrent DVT.