Case reports and observational studies have suggested that patients who take antipsychotic drugs have an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Using a case-control design, Zornberg and Jick (Lancet 2000 356:1219-1223) evaluated patterns of conventional antipsychotic drug use in 42 patients suffering a first idiopathic VTE (cases) and 168 patients matched for factors including age, sex and index date (controls); all patients had filled at least one prescription for an antipsychotic drug and were younger than 60 years of age.
Compared with patients who had not filled a prescription within 120 days of the index event, patients who had filled a prescription within 60 days of the index date had a much greater risk of idiopathic VTE (adjusted odds ratio, 7.1; 95% confidence interval, 2.3 to 21.97). The risk was similar for individual drugs. However, the risk differed according to the class of drug and was particularly high for the ...
