Background: Critically ill patients are at high risk for developing venous thromboembolism. Currently, the prevalence and incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in Thai medical intensive care unit (ICU) is unknown.

Aims: We aimed to evaluate prevalence and incidence of DVT in patients who admitted to critical care units and associated risk factors of DVT.

Methods: A single-center, prospective cohort study of critically medically ill patients was conducted at Ramathibodi Hospital during 2019-2020. Patients were screened for proximal DVT by Doppler ultrasound on admission, day 5, day 7, and then weekly until discharge from ICU.  Patients who have a prior history of venous thromboembolism, femoral venous catheter insertion, end stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring hemodialysis, require platelet transfusion were defined as a high-risk group.

Results: A total of 200 patients were enrolled. Mean age (standard deviation, SD) was 66.5 (16.4) years. Mean APACHE ll score was 27. The prevalence of DVT was 8.5% and the incidence of DVT was 7%. No pulmonary embolism occurred in incident DVT patients. During admission, 2 (1%) patients had received pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis and 12 (6%) received therapeutic anticoagulant. There was no significant difference in DVT between high risk and low risk group (8.9 % vs. 6.3 %, respectively). There was no significant difference in mortality in those with and without DVT. No risk factor was associated with the development of DVT.

Conclusions: Despite low rate of thromboprophylaxis, we found a low incidence of DVT. Pharmacological thromboprophylaxis in our critical care unit should be discussed individually.

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ISTH Congress Abstracts - https://abstracts.isth.org/abstract/prevalence-and-incidence-of-deep-vein-thrombosis-in-medical-critically-ill-patients-a-prospective-analysis-in-a-single-tertiary-care-centre-in-thailand/