title: Venous thromboembolism in elderly high-risk medical patients: time course of events and influence of risk factors.
abstract: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) causes significant morbidity and mortality in hospitalized medical populations; however, medical patients do not currently receive thromboprophylaxis beyond their hospital stay. We reviewed the real-life occurrence of VTE-related care for 100 days post-hospitalization in Calgary, Canada. Using medical visit records with a unique patient identifier number applied throughout the city's hospitals, 989 high-risk patients were selected for review. Almost three-quarters of the elderly patients received appropriate prophylaxis while in hospital, and only 2% received prophylaxis on discharge. Over the 100-day follow-up, 21% of the patients presented with clinically suspected VTE, of which 3.8% had confirmed VTE. Patients with multiple risk factors (≥ 3) had the highest frequency of confirmed VTE (≥ 6.1%). This study suggests that the actual rate of VTE-related follow-up care in patients post-hospitalization is high in the first 100 days, particularly among those who have multiple risk factors, warranting consideration of extended thromboprophylaxis in this population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Thrombosis Research Unit, University of Calgary, Canada. rdhull@ucalgary.ca
authors.forename: Russell D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Hull
authors.forename: Tazmin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Merali
authors.forename: Allan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.forename: Abigail L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D054556:Venous Thromboembolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants
keywords: anticoagulants; deep venous thrombosis; pulmonary embolism; thrombosis; thrombosis prophylaxis; venous thromboembolism