Inpatient thromboprophylaxis use in U.S. hospitals: adherence to the seventh American College of Chest Physician's recommendations for at-risk medical and surgical patients.

The clinical venous thromboembolism (VTE) burden remains high in the United States, despite guidelines recommending that safe and effective VTE prophylaxis be available. This study assesses the real-world rate of appropriate inpatient VTE prophylaxis in hospitalized U.S. medical and surgical patients at risk of VTE, in accordance with the seventh American College of Chest Physicians, (ACCP) guidelines. Medical and surgical discharges from Premier's Perspective database between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2006 were considered. Discharges aged > or = 40 years, with a length of stay > or = 6 days, at risk of VTE due to the presence of > or = 1 VTE risk factors identified by the seventh ACCP guidelines, and without contraindications for anticoagulation, were included in the analysis. Appropriate prophylaxis was determined by comparing the daily use, dosage, and duration of anticoagulants and compression devices with the seventh ACCP recommendations for each medical condition or surgical procedure. A total of 390,024 discharges met the inclusion criteria, of which 201,224 (51.6%) were medical discharges and 188,800 (48.4%) were surgical discharges. Overall, 65.9% of medical discharges and 77.7% of surgical discharges received at least 1 order for VTE prophylaxis during hospitalization. However, only 12.7% of medical discharges and 16.4% of surgical discharges received appropriate prophylaxis when the recommended prophylaxis type, dose, and duration from the seventh ACCP guidelines were taken into account. Few medical and surgical patients at high risk of VTE receive appropriate inpatient prophylaxis in accordance with guideline recommendations. It is important for individual hospitals to improve VTE prophylaxis practices to meet national performance initiatives.

Amin AN ，Stemkowski S ，Lin J ，Yang G ... -  《-》

Appropriate thromboprophylaxis in hospitalized cancer patients.

Amin A ，Stemkowski S ，Lin J ，Yang G ... -  《-》

A retrospective review of the use of thromboprophylaxis in patients who subsequently developed a venous thromboembolism after discharge from hospital.

Wiseman DN ，Harrison J 《-》

Appropriate VTE prophylaxis is associated with lower direct medical costs.

Amin A ，Hussein M ，Battleman D ，Lin J ，Stemkowski S ，Merli GJ ... -  《-》

Estimated annual numbers of US acute-care hospital patients at risk for venous thromboembolism.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major US health problem. However, the total number of US inpatients who are at risk for VTE is unknown. Our objective was to estimate the number of US acute-care hospital inpatients who were at risk for VTE according to criteria established by the Seventh American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) Consensus Conference on Antithrombotic and Thrombolytic Therapy guidelines for VTE prevention. Using the 2003 Nationwide Inpatient Sample from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), patient diagnoses and procedures were examined to identify major surgery patients (age > or = 18 years, length of hospital stay > or = 2 days) and medical patients (age > or = 40 years, length of hospital stay > or = 2 days). ACCP guidelines were used to estimate the number of surgical and medical patients at risk of developing VTE. Of an estimated 38,220,659 discharges in 2003, 7,786,390 (20%) were surgical inpatients; 44% of which were at low risk for VTE, while 15%, 24%, and 17% were at moderate, high, and very high risk for VTE, respectively. Of the remaining 15,161,586 medical patients, 7,742,419 (51%) met ACCP VTE risk criteria. Over 12 million patients, comprising 31% of US hospital discharges in 2003, were at risk of VTE. Given the existence of internationally-accepted evidence-based guidelines for prevention of VTE, research is required to establish if this patient population is receiving recommended VTE prophylaxis.

Anderson FA Jr ，Zayaruzny M ，Heit JA ，Fidan D ，Cohen AT ... -  《-》