Venous thromboembolism up in adult hospitalizations

(HealthDay) -- Every year, more than half a million hospitalized U.S. adults acquire venous thromboembolism (VTE), a growing public health concern that is often preventable, according to research published in the June 8 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.

Hussain R. Yusuf, M.D., of the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed 2007 to 2009 data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey to estimate the yearly number of hospitalizations with VTE in the United States.

The researchers estimated that an average of 547,596 hospitalizations with VTE occur each year in adults aged 18 years and older, with rates much more prevalent in adults over the age of 60. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) made up an estimated annual average of 348,558 and 277,549 hospitalizations, respectively; both DVT and PE were diagnosed in 78,511 hospitalizations (14 percent of overall VTE hospitalizations).

"These findings underscore the need to promote implementation of evidence-based prevention strategies to reduce the number of preventable cases of VTE among hospitalized patients," the authors conclude.