Weekly Risk of Venous Thromboembolism Recurrence in Patients Receiving Oral Anticoagulants.
Curr Med Res Opin. 2014 Apr 16;
Authors: Laliberté F, Coleman CI, Bookhart B, Lefebvre P, Cloutier M, Damaraju C, Schein JR, Kaatz S
Abstract
Abstract Background: Data is currently lacking in evaluating the weekly rates of recurrent VTE among patients receiving anticoagulants. Objective: To quantify the risk of VTE recurrence during the first 12-weeks after an index VTE event. Methods: Healthcare claims from Truven Health Analytics MarketScan database from January 2007 to June 2012 were analyzed. Adult patients with ≥ 1 diagnosis of VTE, ≥ 1 anticoagulant prescription dispensed within 7 days of the index VTE hospitalization discharge or outpatient/emergency room (ER) visit (index date), and a proportion of days covered ≥ 0.7 on the anticoagulant therapy during the 12 weeks post discharge were included. The weekly risk of VTE recurrence was evaluated with the hazard function using the life-table method. Results: A total of 105,682 patients with a VTE were included. Mean age was 59 years and 49% were female. The risk of VTE recurrence was at its highest during the first and second week, at 0.78% and 0.83%, respectively. The risk remained high during Weeks 3, 4, and 5 with risks of VTE recurrence of 0.63%, 0.52%, and 0.39%, respectively. The risk of VTE recurrence stabilized around Week 7, with risks of 0.26%, 0.22%, 0.20%, 0.25%, 0.23%, and 0.23% for Weeks 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, respectively. Limitations: Claims data may have contained inaccuracies. During hospitalizations it was not possible to assess anticoagulant use or a VTE recurrence occurring in the same hospitalization as the index VTE event. Conclusion: This analysis suggests that the risk of VTE recurrence remains high in the early weeks after an index VTE among patients receiving anticoagulants.
PMID: 24738644 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]