The Incidence of Arterial and Venous Thrombosis in Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody–associated Vasculitis

Abstract : We read with interest in The Journal of Rheumatology the article by Kang, et al, "High Incidence of Arterial and Venous Thrombosis in Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-associated Vasculitis,"1 which reported a dramatically high incidence of arterial (ATE) and venous thrombosis events (VTE) in a hospital-based cohort of patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV). The study generally supports the previously reported increased risk of ATE and VTE in patients affected by AAV2-8, but has a number of inaccuracies and methodological issues that inflate the incidence rates of ATE and VTE.