• Gregory Reardon, Naushira Pandya, Edith A Nutescu, Joyce Lamori, C V Damaraju, Jeff Schein, and Brahim Bookhart.
• Informagenics, LLC and The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, Columbus, OH, USA. greardon@informagenics.com
• J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2013 Aug 1;14(8):578-84.

ObjectiveVenous thromboembolism (VTE) is common in the elderly, but its epidemiology in nursing home residents remains unclear. This study estimated rates of VTE recorded on nursing home admission and incidence during residence.DesignRetrospective analysis of AnalytiCare long term care (LTC) database for the period January 2007 to June 2009.Setting181 nursing homes in 19 US states.ParticipantsEligible residents had 1 or more admission Minimum Data Set (MDS) 2.0 assessment(s) over the study period. All VTE cases were extracted if MDS indicated deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. The number of admissions and days at risk were estimated from a random sample (n = 1350) of all residents.MeasurementsThe earliest admission was identified as the admission index date. VTE cases were classified as either "On Admission" (VTE coded on admission index date) or "During Residence" (coded afterward). Residents were followed from admission index date until censoring.ResultsA total of 2144 VTE admission cases (3.7% of all admissions) were identified. A further 757 cases of VTE occurring during residence were identified, yielding an incidence of 3.68 cases of VTE per 100 person-years of postadmission residence. VTE admission rates were highest for residents younger than 50 years (4.8%, confidence interval [CI]: 3.9%-5.9%) and 50 to 64 years (5.1%, CI: 4.6%-5.7%) but similar for those aged 65 to 74 (3.6%, CI: 3.3%-4.0%), 75 to 84 (3.6%, CI: 3.3%-3.9%), and 85 years or older (3.1%, CI: 2.9%-3.4%). The incidence of VTE during residence was similar among these age strata.ConclusionApproximately 1 in 25 nursing home admissions had a VTE diagnosis. VTE incidence during residence was higher than reported in earlier nursing home studies. These incidence rates merit further investigation because diagnostic improvements may be driving greater recognition of VTE in LTC.Copyright © 2013 American Medical Directors Association, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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