Prevalence of venous thromboembolism in the USA: now and future
Abstract number: OC-WE-018
Deitelzweig1 S., Lin2 J., Johnson3 B.H., Schulman3 K.L.
11Ochsner Hospital, Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans 22Sanofi-aventis, Bridgewater 33Healthcare, Thomson Reuters, Cambridge, USA
How-to-cite Deitelzweig S, Lin J, Johnson BH, Schulman KL. Prevalence of venous thromboembolism in the USA: now and future. Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2009; Volume 7, Supplement 2: Abstract OC-WE-018
Introduction: The prevalence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) has previously been reported in population studies of specific patient populations. This study reports the trends in overall VTE prevalence in the USA.
Methods: Data from the Marketscan¯ Commercial Claims and Encounters and Medicare databases from Thomson Reuters (Jan 2002–Dec 2006) were extracted for patients aged ≥18 years and with a VTE diagnosis (inpatient service at any point in the claim, or at least one outpatient claim and anticoagulant use) between January 2002 and December 2006. For prevalence, the number of patients with VTE were divided by the total number of individuals in the underlying database population and standardized to US Census age sex distributions. Independent VTE risk factors were identified from logistic models comparing clinical and demographic characteristics of patients with and without VTE.
Results: A total of 200,007 patients had any VTE (70% DVT, 24% PE, 6% DVT+PE). The prevalence of VTE (per 100,000 patients) increased from 317 during 2002 to 421 during 2006. VTE prevalence was marginally higher in females vs. males (347 vs. 285 in 2002; 441 vs. 400 in 2006), and higher in patients ≥ 65 years than in those <65 (1,059 vs. 169 in 2002; 1,382 vs. 231 in 2006). The total number of individuals with VTE was projected to increase from 0.95 million in 2006 to 1.82 million in 2050. VTE patients were significantly more likely to have comorbid conditions such as heart failure, pulmonary disease or active cancer, than those without VTE (P < 0.001 for all). For example, the incidence of pulmonary disease was 38.7% in patients with VTE and 6.2% in patients without VTE (adjusted odds ratio 6.40, 95% CI 6.3–6.5).
Conclusion: There is a trend for increasing prevalence of VTE in the USA over the last 5 years, with rates predicted to double by 2050. More coordinated efforts are required to improve the awareness and prevention of VTE.
Disclosure of interest: Financial and editorial support was provided by sanofi-aventis US, Inc.
Steven Deitelzweig: Honoraria, research funding, speakers bureau for sanofi-aventis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Scios; speakers bureau for Pfizer.
Jay Lin: Employee at sanofi-aventis US, IncJay Lin - employee at sanofi-aventis.
Barbara Johnson, Kathy Schulman - research grants from sanofi-aventis.
