Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in hospitals in China: a nationwide survey

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) includes pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) and deep venous thrombosis(DVT), which is a frequent, severe and avoidable disease. However, the status quo of VTE prophylaxis in clinical practice is not well understood in China. Objectives: To understand the current prevention and management of VTE in hospitals in China. Methods: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) includes pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) and deep venous thrombosis, which is a frequent, severe and avoidable disease. Each participant hospital was required to complete the survey according to their routine clinical practice. The survey was conducted between January 24, 2019 and January 31, 2020. Results: Totally, 444 valid questionnaires were collected with an overall 79.57% response rate. 93.69% hospitals had identified their own high VTE risk departments, and 72.75% of hospitals have already set up steering committees for VTE. Health administration department(65.32%) was major department for VTE management.VTE risk assessment was performed in 91.22% hospitals by using Padua prediction scoring (56.05%) and Caprini risk assessment model (94.32%). The uptake of bleeding risk assessment was 78.60%.Almost all hospitals could provide imaging testing and anticoagulants for VTE diagnosis and treatment. Information technology was adopted for VTE management in 52.03% hospitals with 47.97% could not collect and analyze data for VTE prophylaxis using information technology. Conclusion: This is the first survey of VTE management in hospitals in China, which provides the basic data for the future VTE management.On-site inspection, data collection, real-time monitoring and feedback will be the focus of further work.