The Association Between the Timing of Initiation of Pharmacologic Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis with Outcomes in Burns Patients

Abstract

Abstract Hospitalized burn patients are at increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Guidelines regarding thromboprophylaxis in burn patients are unclear. This study aims to compare the outcomes of early versus late thromboprophylaxis initiation in burn patients. In this 3-year analysis of 2017–2019 ACS-TQIP, adult(18–64years) burn patients were identified after applying inclusion/exclusion criteria and stratified based on timing of initiation of VTE prophylaxis: Early(<24 hours of admission); Late(>24 hours). Outcomes were deep venous thrombosis(DVT), pulmonary embolism(PE), unplanned return to operating room (OR), unplanned intensive care unit (ICU) admission, post-prophylaxis packed red blood cells (PRBC) transfusion, and mortality. Nine thousand two hundred and seventy-two patients were identified. Overall, median age was 41years, 71.5% were male, and median[IQR] injury severity score was 3[1–8]. 53% had second-degree burns, and 80% had less than 40% of total body surface area affected. Median time to thromboprophylaxis initiation was 11[6–20.6]hours. Overall VTE rate was 0.9% (DVT−0.7%, PE−0.2%). On univariable analysis, early prophylaxis group had lower rates of DVT(0.6% vs 1.1%, P = .025), and PE(0.1% vs 0.6%, P < .001). On multivariable regression, late prophylaxis was associated with 1.8 times higher odds of DVT (aOR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.04–3.11, P = .03), 4.8 times higher odds of PE(aOR = 4.8, 95% CI = 1.9–11.9, P < .001), and 2 times higher odds of unplanned ICU admission(aOR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.4–3.1, P < .001). Furthermore, early thromboprophylaxis was not associated with increased odds of post-prophylaxis PRBC transfusion(aOR = 1.1, 95% CI = 0.8–1.4, P = .4), and mortality(aOR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.4–1.1, P = .13). Early VTE prophylaxis in burn patients is associated with decreased rates of DVT and PE, without increasing the risk of bleeding and mortality. VTE prophylaxis may be initiated within 24 hours of admission to reduce VTE in this high-risk patient population.