Increased levels of plasma thrombomodulin are associated with vascular and all-cause mortality in patients on long-term anticoagulant treatment.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to test if plasma levels of thrombomodulin could predict mortality in 209 patients on long-term anticoagulant treatment followed up for 3.8 years. The thrombomodulin level was 60.9 +/- 29.8 micrograms.l-1 for all 45 patients who died and 60.5 +/- 30.5 micrograms.l-1 for the 38 vascular deaths, compared to 52.3 +/- 20.7 micrograms.l-1 for the 164 survivors. We found that, in Cox regression analyses, all-cause (P = 0.025) and vascular mortality (P = 0.042) was significantly and independently associated with increased levels of thrombomodulin. The level of plasma thrombomodulin can predict all-cause and vascular mortality in patients on long-term anticoagulant treatment.