Temporal Trends in Incidence, Causes and Associated Factors in Cerebral Venous Thrombosis: A 12-Year Single Center Danish Study

Abstract

Introduction: We aimed to examine trends in the diagnosis of Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis (CVT) and the differences in symptomatology. Methods: We retrospectively examined all patients with a diagnosis of CVT discharged from our tertiary referral hospital in the period 2005-2016. We compared an earlier time period (2005-2013) to a later time period (2014-2016). We also compared clinical presentation with respect to age and sex. Results: We found a total of 64 patients. Thirty patients from the early time period were compared to 34 in the later time period. In the later time period, significantly more men (53%) were seen compared to the earlier period (13%), p = 0.001. Patients were also significantly older in the later time period (median age: 55 years, Interquartile Range (IQR): 27-69) than patients in the earlier period (median age: 32.5 years, IQR 24-49), p = 0.0047. Discussion: The average age of patients with CVT was higher in the later time period. We suggest that this can be due to either a decreasing incidence of CVT among young women using the oral contraceptive pill (OCP) or due to better diagnostics among elderly. If we disregard the young women using OCP, we achieve a more even distribution in sex and an older population.