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Inflammation predisposes patients to thrombosis, and several specific autoimmune diseases (e.g., inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE]) are associated with elevated risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Swedish investigators used exhaustive national hospital databases to identify 535,000 patients hospitalized with any of 33 autoimmune disorders and 306,000 patients hospitalized for pulmonary embolism (PE) between 1964 and 2008. Of these patients, 15,600 with no histories of VTE who were hospitalized for autoimmune disorders had PE either on index or subsequent hospitalizations.
Risk for PE was significantly elevated in the first year after admission for each of the 33 autoimmune disorders, with…