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. 2025 Sep;132(10):1341-1345.
doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.18229. Epub 2025 May 21.

Pregnancy-Related Venous Thromboembolism Risk Perception and Prevention in Risk-Averse Times-Significant Change Required: a Commentary

Laura A Magee  1 , Roopen Arya  2 , Clare Boag  3 , Luci Buxton  4 , Matthew A Coleman  5 , Fizzah Jivraj  6 , Rebecca Scott  7 , Kayleigh Sheen  8 , Sergio A Silverio  1   9 , Peter von Dadelszen  1
Affiliations

Pregnancy-Related Venous Thromboembolism Risk Perception and Prevention in Risk-Averse Times-Significant Change Required: a Commentary

Laura A Magee et al. BJOG. 2025 Sep.

Abstract

Between 2020 and 2022 in the United Kingdom (UK), there were 45 maternal deaths from venous thromboembolism (VTE), out of more than 2 million maternities. This occurred despite extensive risk assessment and prescribing of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) thromboprophylaxis, alongside clinicians' overestimate of risk and commitment to the cause. Whilst every maternal death is a tragedy, the challenge ahead is immense-to identify, in an efficient and consistent way, those few women at risk of life-threatening thrombosis, and then minimise that risk with a cost-effective therapy that is acceptable to pregnant and postpartum women, and does not do more harm than good. We propose a way forward.

Keywords: haematology; maternity services; risk perception; venous thromobemolism.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Potential strategy for VTE thromboprophylaxis in pregnancy and postpartum.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Per capita healthcare expenditure and MMR (The Global Health Observatory. Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births). https://wwwwhoint/data/gho/indicator‐metadata‐registry/imr‐details/3140 [accessed 11 Nov 2024]). The dots represent individual countries. Those in grey are labelled to provide further context. MMR, maternal mortality ratio; NZ, New Zealand; UK, United Kingdom; USA, United States of America.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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