Idiopathic inflammatory myopathy and the risk of venous thromboembolism: a meta-analysis

This study aimed at analyzing published data on the association between idiopathic inflammatory myopathy and venous thromboembolism (VTE). We examined studies on VTE risk in patients with polymyositis (PM) and/or dermatomyositis (DM), in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases and via manual searches. We performed a meta-analysis on the relative risks (RRs) of VTE, pulmonary embolism (PE), and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in these patients. Five studies, including 8858 patients with PM/DM met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis revealed a significant association between PM/DM and VTE risk (RR = 4.364, 95% CI 2.128–8.949, p = 5.8 × 10⁻⁵). A significant association was found between PE risk and PM/DM (RR = 3.504, 95% CI 2.856–4.300, p < 1.0 × 10⁻⁸). Meta-analysis also indicated a significant association between DVT risk and PM/DM (RR = 7.481, 95% CI 3.355–16.68, p = 8.7 × 10⁻⁷). This meta-analysis demonstrated that both types of PM/DM are associated with an elevated risk of VTE, PE, and DVT, suggesting that patients with PM/DM should be carefully monitored for development of these conditions.