INTRODUCTION Venous thromboembolism (VTE), including deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), afflicts over 1 million people in Europe annually. 1 The 1-year incidence of recurrent VTE is approximately 2% among patients receiving direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) or vitamin K antagonists (VKAs), 2 and rises to 11% at 1 year and 30% at 5 years among individuals following unprovoked VTE after cessation of anticoagulation. 3 The main established risk factors predisposing to VTE recurrence include older age, male sex, high body mass index (BMI), active cancer, unprovoked VTE, proximal DVT or PE, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, short duration of anticoagulant