Thomas makes several erroneous statements in respect to antiphospholipid antibody (APLA) syndromes in his review entitled "Hypercoagulability Syndromes."1 Since readers may use these recommendations for patient management decisions, we believe that these statements need to be corrected.
1. Thomas states that the incidence of APLA syndrome is 28%. No data exist to support this statement. The actual incidence of the syndrome in patients with venous thromboembolism, as defined by the Sapporo criteria, is not known.2 Several studies have looked at the incidence of APLAs in patients with venous thromboembolism, with results ranging from 5.2% to 21%.3,4 These studies used only a single measurement for APLAs. Since some APLAs are transient and the APLA syndrome is defined by repeatedly positive APLA test results, the incidence of the APLA syndrome is likely lower than 5.2% to 21%.