Rate of VTE in Hospitalized Children Continues to Rise

Feb 14 (Reuters) – NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Over the last two decades, the rate of venous thromboembolism (VTE) among hospitalized children in the U.S. has continued to rise, despite ongoing prevention efforts.

In 2009, a large study using the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) showed a 70% increase in the rate of pediatric VTE across U.S. children’s hospitals from 2001 to 2007.

A new study using PHIS data from 2008 through 2019 suggests a 130% increase in the rate of VTE among hospitalized children in the U.S., from 46 VTE cases per 10,000 admissions in 2008 to 106 VTE cases per 10,000 admissions in 2019.

“Overall, there has been a 211% increase in the VTE rate in hospitalized children since 2001. This is despite ongoing efforts to prevent VTE,” Dr. Sarah H. O’Brien, with The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio and colleagues report in Pediatrics.

“The risk of VTE is spread throughout all age groups but consistent with prior findings it is the highest in infants and adolescents,” they note.

“This study is not able to ascertain whether increased VTE rates represent a true increase in VTE occurrence or rather just improved detection, but it seems unlikely that an ongoing, almost 20-year trend is due to increased VTE awareness alone. Rather, this continued increase in VTE is more likely due to increasing medical complexity of patients and ongoing VTE risk factors with hospitalization,” the study team writes.

The continued rise of VTE across U.S. children’s hospitals “supports the need for more effective VTE prevention strategies. Clinical trials focused on risk stratification and VTE prevention are needed,” they conclude.

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3rNebfV Pediatrics, online February 14, 2022.

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