OBJECTIVES

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is caused by the formation of a thrombus in the bloodstream. VTE includes deep vein thrombosis, which can evolve to embolism if the thrombus breaks off. VTE is a frequent pathology, with an annual incidence of 1 to 2 per 1,000 inhabitants in France and a severe pathology, with a 3-month mortality between 10 and 15%. However very few real-world data are available in France on those patients and their hospital management.

METHODS

A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using the French exhaustive National hospital discharge database (PMSI). VTE patients were included between 2014 and 2017 and followed until 2018. The study was conducted for the whole VTE population and on two distinct cohorts: (i) patients with venous thrombosis (I80*, I820 I821, I636, I676, O222, O223, O225, O870, O871 and O873) and (ii) patients with embolism (I26*, I822, I823, I828, I829 and O882). Relevant comorbidities were assessed using also ICD-10 codes. Incidence and prevalence of VTE inpatients were calculated and hospital management and its associated costs were described. In-hospital mortality was assessed using Kaplan-Meier model.

RESULTS

The number of VTE patients increased from 133,633 to 143,873 between 2014 and 2017 with more than 90% of incident patients. The prevalence and incident rates were stable at 2 per 1,000 inhabitants. Median age was 71 and 52.7% were female. Median length of first VTE episode was 6 days and a recurrence lasted 2 days. The median delay between first and second episode was 354 days. The burden of VTE reached 238.8M€ in 2017. The 1-year hospital mortality was 5.11%.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides a recent and detailed description of VTE patients and their hospital management in France. VTE patients hospital management was found to be associated with a high economic burden, mainly caused by the first hospital stay.