"High antiphospholipid antibody levels are associated with statin use and may reflect chronic endothelial damage in non-autoimmune thrombosis." - GreenMedInfo Summary
High antiphospholipid antibody levels are associated with statin use and may reflect chronic endothelial damage in non-autoimmune thrombosis: cross-sectional study.
J Clin Pathol. 2012 Mar 3. Epub 2012 Mar 3. PMID: 22389514
Division of Rheumatology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York, USA.
Objective Persistently elevated antiphospholipid antibodies and positive lupus anticoagulant (LAC) are associated with an increased risk of thrombosis. The objective of this study was to explore whether antiphospholipid antibody and/or LAC positivity were associated with the traditional risk factors for thrombosis or with medication use in patients without autoimmune diseases hospitalised with arterial or venous thrombosis.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingMontefiore Medical Center, a large urban tertiary care centre.Patients270 patients (93 with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE), and 177 with non-haemorrhagic stroke (cerebrovascular accident (CVA)) admitted between January 2006 and December 2010 with a discharge diagnosis of either DVT, PE or CVA, who had LAC and antiphospholipid antibodies measured within 6 months from their index admission. Patients with lupus or antiphospholipid syndrome were excluded.Main Outcome MeasuresThe main dependent variable was antiphospholipid antibodies of 40 units or greater (antiphospholipid antibody positivity) and/or LAC positivity. Independent variables were traditional thrombosis risk factors, statin use, aspirin use and warfarin use.Results31 (11%) patients were LAC positive and/or antiphospholipid antibody positive. None of the traditional risk factors at the time of DVT/PE/CVA was associated with antiphospholipid antibody positivity. Current statin use was associated with an OR of 3.2 (95% CI 1.3 to 7.9, p=0.01) of antiphospholipid antibody positivity, adjusted for age, ethnicity and gender. Aspirin or warfarin use was not associated with antiphospholipid antibody levels.ConclusionIf statin therapy reflects the history of previous hyperlipidaemia, high levels of antiphospholipid antibodies may be a marker for earlier endothelial damage caused by hyperlipidaemia.