Venous Thromboembolism in Critically Ill Cirrhotic Patients: Practices of Prophylaxis and Incidence

Table 2

Practices of VTE prophylaxis in cirrhotics and noncirrhotic critically ill patients.

	Cirrhotic patients; 𝑁=75	Noncirrhotic patients; 𝑁=723	𝑃 value
Use of mechanical prophylaxis, 𝑁 (%)	43 (57.3)	366 (50.6)	0.27
Intermittent pneumatic compression	23 (30.6)	232 (32.1)	0.86
Graduated compression stockings	22 (29.3)	175 (24.2)	0.29
Mechanical prophylaxis only	31 (41.3)	56 (7.7)	<0.0001
Use of pharmacologic prophylaxis, 𝑁 (%)	24 (32.0)	615 (85.1)	<0.0001
Unfractionated heparin	22 (29.3)	479 (66.3)	<0.0001
Low-molecular-weight heparin	2 (2.7)	225 (31.1)	<0.0001
Pharmacologic prophylaxis only	12 (16.0)	305 (42.2)	<0.0001
No VTE prophylaxis, 𝑁 (%)	20 (26.7)	52 (7.2)	<0.0001
Use of both mechanical and pharmacologic prophylaxis simultaneously, 𝑁 (%)	12 (16.0)	310 (42.9)	<0.0001
Duration of pharmacologic prophylaxis (days)∗¶, mean ± SD	5.1±4.2	10.4±7.6	<0.0001
Duration of mechanical prophylaxis (days), mean ± SD
Intermittent pneumatic compression	2.4±4.7	3.3±6.3	0.13
Graduated compression stockings	2.9±5.4	2.3±5.2	0.41
Stay in the ICU without pharmacologic prophylaxis¶ (days), mean ± SD	8.4±7.0	4.1±6.1	<0.0001

ICU: intensive care unit; SD: standard deviation.
∗For patients who received pharmacologic prophylaxis.
¶Data on thromboprophylaxis were obtained for a maximum of 30 days of ICU stay.