Effectiveness of Sequential Compression Devices in Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism in Medically Ill Hospitalized Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Objective
To evaluate the effectiveness of sequential compression devices (SCDs) for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention in medically ill hospitalized patients.


Materials and Methods
Adult patients admitted to a teaching hospital from April 2015 to March 2016 were included. Patients on anticoagulants with or without SCDs were excluded. We analyzed VTE risk, length of hospital stay, and other comorbidities among propensity score-matched patients on SCDs and those without thromboprophylaxis (NONE).


Results
Among 30,824 patients, 67 patients (0.22%) developed VTE during their hospital stays, with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in 55 cases and pulmonary embolism (PE) in 12. VTE was seen in 47 out of 20,018 patients on SCDs (41 DVT, 6 PE) and 20 out of 10,819 patients without SCDs (14 DVT, 6 PE). Risk-adjusted analysis showed no significant difference in VTE incidence in the SCD group compared to NONE (odds ratio 0.99, 95% confidence interval 0.57-1.73, p=0.74).


Conclusion
Compared to the NONE group, SCDs are not associated with decreased VTE incidence during hospital stay.
['Dhakal|Prajwal|P|0000-0002-2368-1510', 'Wang|Ling|L|0000-0003-2452-6691', 'Gardiner|Joseph|J|0000-0003-2605-6478', 'Shrotriya|Shiva|S|0000-0003-1366-8950', 'Sharma|Mukta|M|0000-0003-2014-3183', 'Rayamajhi|Supratik|S|0000-0002-3496-5375']
D000925:Anticoagulants D015331:Cohort Studies D005260:Female D006760:Hospitalization D006801:Humans D048228:Intermittent Pneumatic Compression Devices D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D012189:Retrospective Studies D054556:Venous Thromboembolism
Effectiveness Sequential compression devices Venous thromboembolism Hospitalized patients