A Novel Tool Identifies Patients at Excess Risk for Venous Thromboembolism

Tools that identify patients who never have experienced, but are at excess risk for, venous thromboembolism (VTE) do not exist. In this study, researchers in the U.K. used data from a cohort of 3.6 million adults (age range, 25–84) to derive and validate an algorithm to estimate risk for VTE.

For both men and women, independent predictors of VTE were older age, higher body-mass index (BMI), smoking, varicose veins, congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic kidney disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, inflammatory bowel disease, hospital admission within the past 6 months, and current use of antipsychotic drugs. For women, additional predictors were current use of oral contraceptives, tamoxifen, and hormone therapy. From these…