The incidence of symptomatic venous thromboembolism following hip fractures with or without surgery in Taiwan

Background Information on the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) following hip fractures in Asia is rare. This study will investigate the epidemiology of symptomatic VTE in Taiwanese patients experiencing hip fractures. Methods and results We used Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database to retrospectively identify patients (≥ 45 years) who experienced hip fractures from 1998 to 2007 and were followed up for 3 months after the discharge. Logistic regression analysis determined the independent risk factors of symptomatic VTE after the fractures. We identified 134,034 patients (mean age: 76.2 ± 9.7 years; female: 57.8%) who experienced hip fractures, 83.2% of whom underwent hip surgery. The overall pharmacological thromboprophylaxis rate was 2.7%. The mean length of stay was 11.3 ± 7.9 days. The 3-month cumulative incidence of symptomatic VTE was 77 events per 10,000 persons. Multivariate analysis showed that previous DVT, previous PE, varicose veins, cancer, heart failure, renal insufficiency, and older age were independent risk factors of developing VTE. Conclusions The incidence of symptomatic VTE after hip fractures is low in Taiwan. Patients rarely received pharmacological thromboprophylaxis following hip fractures. Universal thromboprophylaxis for patients experiencing hip fractures was not necessary in Taiwan, but it should be considered in high-risk populations.