Background: Few studies have assessed treatment patterns of acute venous thromboembolism (VTE) in a real-world population. We aimed to describe anticoagulant treatment patterns for acute VTE using healthcare databases of Québec, Canada.
Methods: We used linked healthcare databases of the province of Québec, Canada to identify all incident cases of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) between 2000 and 2009. We formed two patient cohorts, one with definite cases (definite VTE cohort, N=40,776) and the other including cases with definite or probable VTE (any VTE cohort, N=54,803) that were followed until death, end of health coverage, or end of study (December 31, 2009).
Results: In the definite cohort, 73.6% of subjects were dispensed an anticoagulant following the diagnosis of VTE. Of those who were dispensed a vitamin K antagonist (VKA), median duration of use was 61days (interquartile range 89). VKA initiation was more likely in patients with pulmonary embolism than deep vein thrombosis alone (HR 1.62, 95% CI (1.58-1.66)). Among outpatients, those managed initially in the outpatient setting were less likely to initiate VKA therapy (HR 0.75, 95% CI (0.68-0.77)), while those requiring admission to hospital for VTE management were more likely to initiate (HR 1.81, 95% CI (1.76-1.87)). Findings were similar in the any VTE cohort.
Conclusion: Our study describes VTE treatment patterns in a real-world setting and suggests that there may be important gaps. These may include significant numbers of patients who did not initiate oral anticoagulant therapy, particularly in the outpatient setting, and shorter duration of oral anticoagulant use than recommended.
Keywords: Anticoagulants; Deep vein thrombosis; Pulmonary embolism; Treatment patterns; Venous thromboembolism.
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