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.