Seasonal variation in the frequency of venous thromboembolism: An updated result of a meta-analysis and systemic review

Objective: Venous thromboembolism, including deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, is likely to cause the death of both medical and surgical patients. Despite some evidence of seasonal variation in the incidence of venous thromboembolism, the existing studies obtain contradictory results. A temporal pattern for pulmonary embolism is known, but data on deep vein thrombosis are inconclusive. The purpose of this study is to make a meta-analysis and systematically review the literature about seasonal variations of pulmonary embolism and/or deep vein thrombosis in order to objectively diagnose venous thromboembolism.

Methods: According to dichotomous data, risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to compare the incidence of venous thromboembolism in different seasons. The research was classified according to pulmonary embolism mortality, pulmonary embolism/deep vein thrombosis incidence, latitude/elevation/climatic types, and monthly incidence for four subgroup comparisons. There were a total of 23 eligible studies, in which 40,309 patients with venous thromboembolism were compared.

Results: The pooled total venous thromboembolism incidence was 27.2% in winter, 23.1% in spring, 24.6% in summer, and 25.1% in autumn. According to the results of pooled analysis, the incidence of venous thromboembolism in winter was much higher than that in summer (RR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.01-1.24, adjusted P = .04), especially deep vein thrombosis. Moreover, the incidence of venous thromboembolism in summer and autumn was lower than that in winter in low-latitude (<200 m) areas and median low-latitude (0-50°-N) areas. Interestingly, the frequency of pulmonary embolism mortality was the largest in spring and smallest in summer (spring > winter ≈ autumn > summer). For monthly data, a statistically significantly lower incidence of venous thromboembolism was observed in May and July than in October.

Conclusions: The study revealed a significantly higher incidence of venous thromboembolism and deep vein thrombosis in winter than in summer. Pulmonary embolism mortality occurred more frequently in spring than during other seasons. A statistically significantly lower incidence of venous thromboembolism was observed in May and July compared with that in October.