Scutelnic A, van de Munckhof A, Krzywicka K, van Kammen MS, Lindgren E, Cordonnier C, Kleinig TJ, Field TS, Poli S, Lemmens R, Middeldorp S, Aaron S, Borhani-Haghighi A, Arauz A, Kremer Hovinga JA, Günther A, Putaala J, Wasay M, Conforto AB, de Sousa DA, Jood K, Tatlisumak T, Ferro JM, Coutinho JM, Arnold M, and Heldner MR
Introduction: Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis associated with vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (CVST-VITT) is a severe disease with high mortality. There are few data on sex differences in CVST-VITT. The aim of our study was to investigate the differences in presentation, treatment, clinical course, complications, and outcome of CVST-VITT between women and men., Patients and Methods: We used data from an ongoing international registry on CVST-VITT. VITT was diagnosed according to the Pavord criteria. We compared the characteristics of CVST-VITT in women and men., Results: Of 133 patients with possible, probable, or definite CVST-VITT, 102 (77%) were women. Women were slightly younger [median age 42 (IQR 28-54) vs 45 (28-56)], presented more often with coma (26% vs 10%) and had a lower platelet count at presentation [median (IQR) 50x10 9 /L (28-79) vs 68 (30-125)] than men. The nadir platelet count was lower in women [median (IQR) 34 (19-62) vs 53 (20-92)]. More women received endovascular treatment than men (15% vs 6%). Rates of treatment with intravenous immunoglobulins were similar (63% vs 66%), as were new venous thromboembolic events (14% vs 14%) and major bleeding complications (30% vs 20%). Rates of good functional outcome (modified Rankin Scale 0-2, 42% vs 45%) and in-hospital death (39% vs 41%) did not differ., Discussion and Conclusions: Three quarters of CVST-VITT patients in this study were women. Women were more severely affected at presentation, but clinical course and outcome did not differ between women and men. VITT-specific treatments were overall similar, but more women received endovascular treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: A.S. has received a grant from Swiss Heart Foundation; C.C. has received speaker honoraria from Boehringer Ingelheim, personal fees for advisory board participation from AstraZeneca and Biogen, and personal fees for steering committee participation from Biogen and Bristol Myers Squibb; T.J.K. has received educational meeting cost assistance from Boehringer Ingelheim; T.S.F. receives in-kind study medication from Bayer Canada and advisory board honoraria from HLS Therapeutics; S.P. received research support from BMS/Pfizer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo, European Union, German Federal Joint Committee Innovation Fund, and German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Helena Laboratories and Werfen as well as speakers’ honoraria/consulting fees from Alexion, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, BMS/Pfizer, Daiichi Sankyo, Portola, and Werfen (all outside the submitted work); R.L. reports fees paid to his institution for consultancy by Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Ischemaview, Medtronic and Medpass; E.L. has received academic grants from the Swedish state under the agreement between the Swedish government and the county councils, the ALF agreement (ALFGBG 942851), Swedish Neurologic Society, Elsa and Gustav Lindh’s Foundation, Wennerströms’ Foundation, P-O Ahl’s Foundation and Rune and Ulla Amlöv’s Foundation for research on CVT; A.C. received speaker grants from Alexion Pharma, Italfarmaco, and Daiichi-Sankyo; M.W. has received consulting fees from Portola/Alexion; C.J. has received speaker honoraria from Alexion, CSL Behring, TEVA and Sanofi Genzyme, personal fees for advisory board participation from Alexion, Roche, Novartis and Merck Serono; H.K. has received personal fees for consulting and data safety monitoring board activities for Octapharma, Grifols, CSL Behring, UCB, Argenx, Takaeda, Alexion and his institution has received clinical trial support from Takaeda; S.N. has received consulting fees from Brainomix and lecture fees from Boehringer Ingelheim and BMS Pfizer; T.G. has received travel grants and speaker honoraria from Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer, Novartis, BMS / Pfizer and Alexion; A.G. has received personal fees from Bayer Vital, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Daiichi Sankyo; K.J. has received academic grants from the Swedish state under the agreement between the Swedish government and the county councils, the ALF agreement (ALFGBG 965417) for research on CVT; T.T. has received personal fees from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Inventiva, and Portola Pharma; D.A.S. reports travel support from Boehringer Ingelheim, speaker fees from Bayer, and Advisory Board participation for AstraZeneca; J.M.F. has received personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer, and Daiichi Sankyo as well as grants from Bayer; J.M.C. has received grants paid to his institution from Boehringer Ingelheim and Bayer, and payments paid to his institution for data safety monitoring board participation by Bayer; M.A. reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Covidien, Daiichi Sankyo, Medtronic, Novartis, Pfizer, and Amgen; M.R.H. reports grants from the Swiss Heart Foundation and from the Bangerter Foundation, and Advisory Board participation for Amgen. All other authors have nothing to disclose.