Meta-analysis: Travel and Risk for Venous Thromboembolism

  1. Divay Chandra, MD, MSc;
  2. Emilio Parisini, MSc, PhD; and
  3. Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH
  1. From Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
    1. Figure 1.
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        Figure 1. Study flow diagram.

        VTE = venous thromboembolism.

      • Figure 2.
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          Figure 2. Forest plot of the relative risks for travel-related VTE.

          VTE = venous thromboembolism.

        • Figure 3.
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            Figure 3. Relationship between duration of travel and relative risk for venous thromboembolism, as reported by 4 included studies.
          • Figure 4.
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              Figure 4. Funnel plot depicting results from the 13 published observational studies.

              The 14th study included in the meta-analysis was unpublished. The plot shows mild asymmetry, with more negative studies being published than positive ones. We obtained the P value by using the Begg test.

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            1. Ann Intern Med August 4, 2009 vol. 151 no. 3 180-190
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