Global public awareness of venous thromboembolism: comment

Abstract

We read with interest the article by Wendelboe et al. [1], in which the authors reported a low public awareness of venous thromboembolism (VTE). In their large survey of > 7000 respondents from the general population of nine countries, 68%, 44% and 54% of the respondents were aware of the terms 'thrombosis, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE)', respectively. The level of awareness was lower than that for other serious diseases such as heart attack and stroke (88% and 85%, respectively). In particular, we were not surprised by their findings that only 45% (95% confidence interval [CI], 43.9-46.5) of respondents were aware that blood clots were preventable, and even fewer of these non-selected respondents reported awareness that cancer, hospitalization and surgery are risk factors for VTE (16%, 25% and 36%, respectively).The findings of Wendelboe et al.[1] are consistent with the results of our recently published survey of cancer patients, in which we demonstrated a similar low rate of awareness of VTE terminology amongst this high-risk patient population [2]. In brief, we conducted an online survey to measure awareness of PE and DVT terminology and understanding of the risks of VTE among a panel of 500 patients (294 treated as outpatients only and 206 who had been admitted to hospital during their treatment). The diagnosis of cancer had been established in all of the respondents within the preceding 12 months. Of these 500 patients, 24% and 15% had heard of the terms DVT or PE (Table 1); 19% and 17% could name signs and symptoms of DVT and PE; 33% reported cancer as a risk factor for 'blood clots'; 3% stated that cancer treatments were risk factors for DVT and PE. Only 25% of the patients received education regarding prevention from providers; < 50% received VTE prophylaxis. Cancer outpatients were significantly less aware of the terms DVT and PE than their inpatient counterparts (Table 1). Nearly equal numbers of inpatients (76%) and outpatients (79%) were aware of the term 'blood clot'. When asked if they could identify or name risk factors for DVT, 155 of 500 (31%) responded positively. Of these, 45% identified sitting for too long, 9% identified travel, 8% identified being overweight, 7% identified being bedridden, 8% identified surgery and only 4% identified chemotherapy, radiation or some form of cancer treatment as risk factors. Significantly more inpatient respondents were aware of risk factors for DVT (P < 0.05) (

Pulmonary Thromboembolism Developed During Hospitalization: A Nationwide Retrospective Observational Study Using Claims Data

“…Similarly, a previous Japanese study reported that the mortality rate attributable to PE was 14% [ 6 ]. In about 25% of the patients with PE, the first sign/symptom of PE is death [ 25 ], and more than 10–13.5% of deaths occur within 1 h of onset of PE [ 7 , 8 ]. Death in such a short time after onset may be difficult to avoid, but if the risk is properly assessed and if the onset of PE can be predicted, a prompt response may be possible.…”

Global public awareness of venous thromboembolism: reply

“…We thank Drs Aggarwal and Rickles for their comments and commend them on their efforts to assess the awareness of cancer‐associated venous thromboembolism (VTE). Their findings are remarkably consistent with the results of our global awareness survey .…”