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Study
Warns of Deep-
Vein Thrombosis 'Crisis'
Airlines routinely warn
about the risk of deep-vein thrombosis, the so-called economy-class
syndrome, but a new study says doctors are not doing enough
on the ground to prevent DVT cases.
In particular, people in the hospital,
who may have risk factors such as obesity, surgery and prolonged
immobility, do not always get simple, preventive care. And, the
study found 71% of all sufferers had not received preventive care.
Treatments such as stockings to
improve leg circulation and drugs have been shown to prevent blood
clots and cut the DVT rate by two-thirds.
"This is a public health crisis,"
says Samuel Goldhaber, a DVT expert at Boston's Brigham and Women's
Hospital, an author of the study in this week's American Journal
of Cardiology.
Doctors today will try to rally
support from other medical experts at a Washington meeting of
the Coalition to Prevent Deep-Vein Thrombosis, a group, along
with the American Medical Association, that hopes to raise awareness
in medicine.
The condition begins when clots
form in the large veins in the legs, especially after periods
of immobility. It may cause leg cramps, but of the estimated 2
million people a year who have DVT, as many as half have no symptoms.
The public has learned more about
DVT as the risks associated with airline travel have made news.
But other factors such as hypertension or obesity don't always
raise the DVT flag in the medical community.
For the study, paid for in part
by Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Goldhaber and his team surveyed 5,451
people with DVT at 183 locations over six months. Two-thirds were
overweight or obese, which increases the chances of developing
PE. Other characteristics:
• 50% suffered hypertension.
• 38% had surgery within
three months before the clot was found.
• 34% were immobile within
30 days of diagnosis of DVT.
• 32% had cancer.
Of the 2,726 patients who were
hospitalized when diagnosed, only 42% had preventive care.
"This offers us opportunities to
improve care," says the American Hospital Association's Nancy
Foster. She says the best steps include "getting patients up and
moving."
Reference
Source 89
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