Haematologica Reports 2005; 1(issue 10):
13-17[prev][index][next]
Pregnancy and venous thrombosis
Gualtiero Palareti
Dept. Angiology & Blood Coagulation “Marino
Golinelli” University Hospital S. Orsola-Malpighi, Bologna,
Italy
Epidemiology and pathophysiology
The risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) during pregnancy and
puerperium is markedly higher than in non-pregnant women of
comparable age. In developed countries, where the mortality for
other causes has been reduced, VTE is currently one of the most
common cause of maternal mortality.1,2 The incidence of
VTE events is about 1/1000 women-y of pregnancy and more 7 out of
1000 women-y post partum; this represents a 2.5-fold increase in
the risk of VTE during pregnancy and 20-fold increase during
puerperium compared to non-pregnant women of comparable
age.3 The incidence of VTE in the United States has been
estimated between 0.5 and 0.7 events/1000 deliveries for deep vein
thrombosis (DVT), and between 1:2500 to 1:10,000 deliveries for
pulmonary embolism (PE).4[>Read full
article in PDF]
