Risk Factors for Venous Thromboembolism in Hospitalized Patients With Acute Medical Illness

Abstract

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in a wide range of patients and conditions.¹ The rationale for providing thromboprophylaxis is that prevention is clinically and financially beneficial compared with treatment of a thromboembolic event once it has occurred. Extensive data have been collected to support this position for surgical patients. Until recently, there was a paucity of data on the benefits of thromboprophylaxis in general medical patients,² despite evidence showing that VTE is a substantial problem in medical populations.³ Although thromboprophylaxis studies had been performed, they tended to focus on the use of thromboprophylaxis in high-risk patients, such as those with myocardial infarction or stroke.¹ In contrast, the limited data in general medical patients were based on small, open-label studies, some of which used diagnostic methods now considered obsolete to detect VTE.⁴