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High incidence of thrombosis in African-American and Latin-American patients with Paroxysmal Nocturnal Haemoglobinuria.

Araten DJ, Thaler HT, Luzzatto L

Division of Hematology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA. aratend@mskcc.org

Paroxysmal Nocturnal Haemoglobinuria (PNH) results in a marked thrombophilic state by unknown mechanisms. Geographic differences in thrombosis incidence in PNH have been observed. We have reviewed 64 patients with "Classic PNH" from a single institution in order to determine the rate of thrombosis in different ethnic groups. When we compared African-Americans (n=11) and Latin-Americans (n=8) with other patients (n=45), we found that African-American and Latin-American patients are at increased risk [Hazard ratio 3.66 (p=0.005) and 3.52, (p=0.035) respectively by Cox regression]. Our data also suggest that this difference in the rate of thrombosis has an impact on length of survival. These findings demonstrate that ethnicity is a risk factor for thrombosis in PNH and have implications for decision-making regarding the management of these patients, including the prevention of thrombosis.

Published 4 January 2005 in Thromb Haemost, 93(1): 88-91.
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