Inpatient and Outpatient Occurrence of Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism and Thromboprophylaxis Following Selected At-Risk Surgeries

BackgroundDespite evidence-based guidelines on prevention, many surgical patients remain at risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE).Objective:To quantify the provision of thromboprophylaxis and proportion of US surgical patients who develop DVT/PE, both in the hospital and postdischarge.Methods:This study was an observational, retrospective database analysis of national managed care data. Data were extracted from the Premier Perspective-i3 Pharma Informatics linked database on patients hospitalized between January 2005 and November 2007 for orthopedic surgery or major abdominal surgery. Patients were included if they were aged 18 years or older at the time of hospitalization and had at least 6 months of continuous plan enrollment prior to index hospitalization. Patients discharged to an acute care facility or with atrial fibrillation were excluded. Prophylaxis status was evaluated during index hospitalization and for 14 days postdischarge. The proportion of patients who developed DV...