Big data, thromboembolism, and immunoglobulin.

In this issue of Blood , Ammann et al used the Medicare Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER-Medicare) linked databases, which include comprehensive clinical information for a representative cohort of cancer patients in the United States, to identify an increased risk of thromboembolic events (TEEs) in patients with secondary hypogammaglobulinemia who receive a first dose of IV immune globulin (IVIg) in comparison with a propensity-matched comparison group of 8035 nonusers of IVIg. 1