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Common inflammatory mediators operate in the pathophysiologic mechanisms of both atherosclerosis and venous thromboembolism (VTE). To investigate whether the use of statins, antiplatelets, or both decreases the incidence of VTE in individuals with atherosclerosis, researchers retrospectively identified 1100 patients (mean age, 67) treated for atherosclerotic disease at a single academic medical center between 2005 and 2010. Patients taking anticoagulants were excluded. Half of the patients were women, and three quarters were black.
VTE occurred in 9.7% of the overall cohort. Seventy-eight percent of patients received statins during an average follow-up of about 13 months. In both univariate and multivariate analyses, the risk for VTE was sig…