Venous Thromboembolism, Total Annual Number In USA Estimated To Exceed 900,000

Main Category: Vascular
Article Date: 15 Dec 2005 - 17:00 PDT

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The total annual number of cases of venous thromboembolism(VTE)in the US is estimated to exceed 900,000, investigators announced at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).

John A. Heit, MD, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, presented the results of a study that estimated the annual fatal and non-fatal deep-vein thrombosis(DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) events in the hospital and community in the US.

The analysis revealed that the majority (93 percent) of estimated VTE-related deaths in the US were secondary to sudden, fatal pulmonary embolism (34 percent)or followed undiagnosed VTE (59 percent).

For the study, the investigators estimated the annual number of community-acquired events using the average age-, sex-, and event-specific incidence rates in Olmsted County, Minnesota 1966-1990 and US census data for the year 2000.

"Population-based estimates of the overall age- and sex-adjusted incidence of VTE range from 71 to 117 per 100,000 person-years," Dr. Heit explained. "However, these rates do not reflect the total burden of VTE disease because they do not include recurrent or clinically unrecognized VTE events. Thus, the total number of VTE events and related deaths in the US is unknown.

In the analysis, the total annual number of nonfatal VTE events in the US was estimated to be 613,423, which comprised 376,365 cases of DVT and 237,058 cases of PE.

The total annual number of fatal VTE events was estimated at 296,370, which comprised 2,258 cases of DVT and 294,112 cases of PE.

Of these 296,370 fatal VTE events:

-- 21,223 (7%) were in patients diagnosed with VTE (presumed treated)
-- 101,032 (34%) were sudden, fatal PE
-- 174,115 (59%)followed undetected (untreated) VTE

The results also showed that approximately two-thirds of VTE events and VTE-related deaths were hospital-acquired and about one third were community-acquired.

"This study demonstrates that nearly one million people in the U.S. still develop VTE each year and that almost one-third of episodes are fatal," Dr. Heit said. "It also shows that most fatal PE events either occur suddenly or follow asymptomatic and unrecognized DVT. Deep-venous thrombosis must be prevented in order to avoid these deaths, and over two-thirds of VTE episodes were related to hospitalization where safe and effective DVT prophylaxis is available."

Finally, Dr. Heit said that future studies that address the impact of universal VTE prophylaxis on VTE incidence and survival are needed.

The present analysis is the US arm of the larger global VTE Impact Assessment Group in Europe (VITAE)study, which is the first major investigation to define the actual burden of VTE in the European Union.

The present study was funded by an educational grant from sanofi-aventis.

Written by: Jill Stein
Jill Stein is a Paris-based freelance medical writer.

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