ABO blood group related venous thrombosis risk in patients with peripherally inserted central catheters

Objective:To investigate the association between ABO blood group and upper limb venous thrombosis (VT) risk in patients with peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC).Methods:Single centre retrospective cohort study. A cohort of patients who underwent PICC insertion from September 2010 to August 2014 were followed up for symptomatic VT presentations diagnosed by ultrasound. Blood group status was identified from hospital information systems.Results:2270 participants had 3020 PICCs inserted. There were 124 cases of symptomatic VT, an incident rate of 4% [95% confidence interval, CI (3–5%)]. Univariate analysis adjusting for the clustered sample showed that having chemotherapy, two or more previous PICCs, a larger catheter size, a diagnosis of cancer and having a blood group B were all associated with an increased risk of a VT. In the multivariate analysis, PICC diameter, cancer diagnosis and blood group B were all independently associated with increased risk of VT.Conclusion:Patients undergoing PICC i...