Venous thromboembolism and subsequent hospitalisation due to acute arterial cardiovascular events: a 20-year cohort study.

This article reports on a cohort study to see if there was a link between venous thromboembolism and arterial cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke. Venous thromboembolism is common in Western countries and is generally considered to be different from thrombotic atherosclerotic disease because arterial thrombi consist of platelets where venous thrombi mainly consist of red blood cells and fibrin. The study examined 20 years of data in Denmark and found that patients with venous thromboembolisms have a significantly higher chance of developing arterial cardiovascular episodes.