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. 2022 Jul 21;6(5):e12769.
doi: 10.1002/rth2.12769. eCollection 2022 Jul.

Racial differences in venous thromboembolism: A surveillance program in Durham County, North Carolina

Ibrahim Saber  1 , Alys Adamski  2 , Maragatha Kuchibhatla  3 , Karon Abe  2 , Michele Beckman  2 , Nimia Reyes  2 , Ryan Schulteis  4 , Bhavana Pendurthi Singh  5 , Andrea Sitlinger  6 , Elizabeth H Thames  1 , Thomas L Ortel  1   7
Affiliations

Racial differences in venous thromboembolism: A surveillance program in Durham County, North Carolina

Ibrahim Saber et al. Res Pract Thromb Haemost. .

Abstract

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) affects approximately 1-2 individuals per 1000 annually and is associated with an increased risk for pulmonary hypertension, postthrombotic syndrome, and recurrent VTE.

Objective: To determine risk factors, incidence, treatments, and outcomes of VTE through a 2-year surveillance program initiated in Durham County, North Carolina (population approximately 280,000 at time of study).

Patients/methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of data actively collected from three hospitals in Durham County during the surveillance period.

Results: A total of 987 patients were diagnosed with VTE, for an annual rate of 1.76 per 1000 individuals. Hospital-associated VTE occurred in 167 hospitalized patients (16.9%) and 271 outpatients who were hospitalized within 90 days of diagnosis (27.5%). Annual incidence was 1.98 per 1000 Black individuals compared to 1.25 per 1000 White individuals (p < 0.0001), and Black individuals with VTE were younger than White individuals (p < 0.0001). Common risk factors included active cancer, prolonged immobility, and obesity, and approximately half were still taking anticoagulant therapy 1 year later. A total of 224 patients died by 1 year (28.5% of patients for whom outcomes could be confirmed), and Black patients were more likely to have recurrent VTE than White patients during the first 6 months following initial presentation (9.4% vs. 4.1%, p = 0.01).

Conclusions: Ongoing surveillance provides an effective strategy to identify patients with VTE and monitor treatment and outcomes. We demonstrated that hospital-associated VTE continues to be a major contributor to the burden of VTE and confirmed the higher incidence of VTE in Black compared to White individuals.

Keywords: deep vein thrombosis; pulmonary embolism; racial group; risk factor; surveillance; venous thromboembolism.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Incidence of VTE by age group among Black individuals and White individuals in Durham County, North Carolina, 2012–2014. Incidence for Black patients is shown with the solid line, and for White patients with the dashed line. The values for incidence of new VTE per 1000 individuals per year for each age range are shown at the bottom of the figure
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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