Caprini VTE computerized risk assessment improves the use of thromboprophylaxis in hospitalized patients with pulmonary disorders

Background. Adequate thromboprophylaxis reduces the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) by half in hospitalized patients. A single scoring system is recommended to improve thromboprophylaxis. Objectives. We investigated the impact of implementing a computerized system to prevent VTE in inpatients with pulmonary diseases and identified predictors of the overuse and underuse of pharmacological thromboprophylaxis. Materials and methods. We compared the use of thromboprophylaxis with enoxaparin in all patients hospitalized for pulmonary disorders in a tertiary hospital in Krakow, Poland, in 2014 and 2017, before and after introducing a computerized thromboprophylaxis system. Using the Caprini risk assessment, the overuse and underuse of thromboprophylaxis were defined as the use in patients with <5 points and >= 5 points, respectively. Results. Both cohorts (n = 2007 in 2014 and n = 1570 in 2017) were similar with regard to age and sex. The most frequent causes of hospitalization were intestinal lung disease (39.0%) and lung cancer (20.4%) in 2017, and pneumonia (38.8%) and lung cancer (27.5%) in 2014. Although the use of thromboprophylaxis was comparable in both cohorts, it was used more frequently in high VTE risk patients in 2017 compared with 2014 (96.98% compared to 29.17%, respectively, p < 0.001), with a concomitant reduction in its overuse (2.26% compared to 6.26%, respectively, p < 0.001). In 2017, no predictors of thromboprophylaxis underuse were identified. The overuse was mainly predicted by the diagnosis of airway diseases (odds ratio (OR) = 0.16, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.02-1.17, p = 0.015). Conclusions. Our findings indicate the benefits of using a computerized system to manage pharmacological thromboprophylaxis in pulmonary inpatients.