Epidemiology and Predictors of Short-Term Mortality in Symptomatic Venous Thromboembolism

– A Nationwide Population-Based Study –

Abstract

Background: The epidemiology of symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) in Taiwan has not been well investigated. The aim of this study was to report on the epidemiology and short-term prognosis of symptomatic VTE. Methods and Results: This nationwide population-based cohort study used the Taiwanese National Health Insurance claims databases to identify adults older than 18 years of age with symptomatic VTE diagnosed in 2002. We investigated the clinical features of VTE and determined independent risk factors of 1-month mortality. A total of 2,774 patients were identified with a mean age of 62.8 years and the female-to-male ratio was 1.15:1. The crude incidence of symptomatic VTE was 16.5 per 100,000 persons, which steadily increased with age, ranging from 4 per 100,000 in patients <40 years old to 108 per 100,000 in patients ≥80 years. We observed no seasonal and meteorological variations in the incidence of VTE. The overall 1-month mortality rate was 8.8%, with 7.1% in deep venous thrombosis and 12.9% in pulmonary embolism. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that pulmonary embolism, cancer, neurologic disease with extremity paresis or paralysis, older age, longer hospital stay, and major abdominal and thoracic surgery in the 3 months preceding VTE were independent predictors of 1-month death. Conclusions: Although the incidence of VTE was lower in Taiwanese populations than in Western ones, short-term mortality rates were high in specific populations. These findings suggest optimal treatment is needed in higher-risk patients. (Circ J 2011; 75: 1998-2004)