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Infection as cause of immobility and occurrence of venous thromboembolism: analysis of 1635 medical cases from the RIETE registry

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Abstract

Several risk assessment models include infection and immobility among the items to be considered for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention. However, information on patients with infection leading to immobility and developing VTE are limited, as well as on the role of specific types of infection. Data were collected from the worldwide RIETE registry, including patients with symptomatic objectively confirmed VTE, and followed-up for at least 3 months. The overall population of RIETE at June 2013 (n = 47,390) was considered. Acute infection leading to immobility was reported in 3.9 % of non-surgical patients. Compared with patients immobilized due to dementia, patients with infection had a shorter duration of immobilization prior to VTE (less than 4 weeks in 94.2 vs. 25.9 % of cases; p < 0.001). During the 3-month follow-up, VTE patients with infection versus those with dementia had a lower rate of fatal bleeding (0.5 vs. 1.1 %; p < 0.05) or fatal PE (1.7 vs. 3.5 %; p < 0.01). Patients with respiratory tract infections had more likely PE as initial VTE presentation than other types of infection (62.3 vs. 37.7 %; p < 0.001). Significantly more patients with pneumonia than those with other respiratory infections had received VTE prophylaxis (50.2 vs. 30.6 %; p < 0.001). Following VTE, patients with sepsis showed a significantly higher risk of fatal bleeding. Based on our real-world data, infection seems to contribute to the pathogenesis of VTE by accelerating the effects of immobility. Its role as VTE risk factor probably deserves further attention and specific assessment in order to optimize VTE prophylaxis and treatment.

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Abbreviations

DVT:

Deep vein thrombosis

PE:

Pulmonary embolism

VTE:

Venous thromboembolism

RIETE:

Registro Informatizado de la Enfermedad TromboEmbolica

Helical CT scan:

Helical computerized tomography scan

SD:

Standard deviation

VKA:

Vitamin K antagonist

LMWH:

Low molecular weight heparin

IU:

International unit

COPD:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

NS:

Not significant

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Acknowledgments

We express our gratitude to Sanofi Spain for supporting this Registry with an unrestricted educational grant. We also express our gratitude to Bayer Pharma AG for supporting this Registry. Bayer Pharma AG’s support was limited to the part of RIETE outside Spain, which accounts for a 19.76 % of the total patients included in the RIETE Registry. We also thank the RIETE Registry Coordinating Center, S & H Medical Science Service, for their quality control, logistic and administrative support and Prof. Salvador Ortiz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Statistical Advisor S & H Medical Science Service for the statistical analysis of the data presented in this paper.

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

RIETE registry is realized in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Informed consent has been obtained from each enrolled patient.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefania Frasson.

Additional information

A full list of RIETE Investigators is given in the Appendix.

Appendices

Appendix

Coordinator of the RIETE Registry: Dr. Manuel Monreal (Spain); RIETE Steering Committee Members: Dr. Hervè Decousus (France), Dr. Paolo Prandoni (Italy), Dr. Benjamin Brenner (Israel); RIETE National Coordinators: Dr. Raquel Barba (Spain), Dr. Pierpaolo Di Micco (Italy), Dr. Laurent Bertoletti (France), Dr. Sebastian Schellong (Germany), Dr. Manolis Papadakis (Greece), Dr. Inna Tzoran (Israel), Dr. Abilio Reis (Portugal), Dr. Marijan Bosevski (R.Macedonia), Dr. Henri, Bounameaux (Switzerland), Dr. Radovan Malý (Czech Republic); RIETE Registry Coordinating Center: S & H Medical Science Service

Members of the RIETE Group

SPAIN: Adarraga MD, Arcelus JI, Arroyo-Cozar M, Ballaz A, Barba R, Barrón M, Barrón-Andrés B, Bascuñana J, Blanco-Molina A, Bueso T, Casado I, Conget F, del Molino F, del Toro J, Falgá C, Fernández-Capitán C, Font L, Fuentes MI, Gallego P, García-Bragado F, García-Lorenzo MD, Gómez V, González J, González-Bachs E, Grau E, Guil M, Gutiérrez J, Hernández L, Hernández-Huerta S, Hernando-López E, Isern V, Jaras MJ, Jiménez D, Lecumberri R, Lobo JL, López-Jiménez L, López-Montes L, López-Reyes R, López-Sáez JB, Lorente MA, Lorenzo A, Luque JM, Madridano O, Marchena PJ, Martín M, Monreal M, Mora JM, Nauffal D, Nieto JA, Núñez MJ, Ogea JL, Pedrajas JM, Peris ML, Porras JA, Riera-Mestre A, Rivas A, Rodríguez-Dávila MA, Román P, Rosa V, Ruiz-Giménez N, Ruiz J, Sahuquillo JC, Samperiz A, Sánchez Muñoz-Torrero JF, Soler S, Suriñach JM, Tiberio G, Tilvan RM, Tolosa C, Trujillo-Santos J, Uresandi F, Valdés M, Valero B, Valle R, Vela J, Vidal G, Villalta J, BELGIUM: Verhamme P, Peerlinck K, BRAZIL: Gadelha T, CZECH REPUBLIC: Malý R, Hirmerova J, Kaletova M, Tomko T, FRANCE: Bertoletti L, Bura-Riviere A, Farge-Bancel D, Hij A, Mahe I, Merah A, GERMANY: Schellong S, GREECE: Babalis D, Papadakis M, Tzinieris I, ISRAEL: Braester A, Brenner B, Tzoran I, Zeltser D, ITALY: Amitrano M, Barillari G, Ciammaichella M, Di Micco P, Duce R, Giorgi-Pierfranceschi M, Gussoni G, Pasca S, Pesavento R, Piovella C, Poggio R, Prandoni P, Quintavalla R, Rocci A, Rota L, Schenone A, Tiraferri E, Tonello D, Tufano A, Visonà A, Zalunardo B, PORTUGAL: Barbosa AL, Miranda D, Santos M, Sousa MS, REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA: Bosevski M, Kovacevic D, SWITZERLAND: Alatri A, Bounameaux H, Calanca L, Mazzolai L.

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Frasson, S., Gussoni, G., Di Micco, P. et al. Infection as cause of immobility and occurrence of venous thromboembolism: analysis of 1635 medical cases from the RIETE registry. J Thromb Thrombolysis 41, 404–412 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11239-015-1242-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11239-015-1242-2

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