Epidemiology

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a relatively common medical problem with a yearly incidence of approximately 1 in every 1000 adults, and a lifetime risk of approximately 8%.​[3][4][5]​​​​​​​​ Annually, it is estimated that VTE affects between 1 and 2 per 1000 of the population in the US.[6]​ The incidence of VTE increases markedly with age, from 0.72 per 1000 patient-years in those ages 40-54 years; 1.58 in people ages 55-64 years; 2.47 in people ages 65-74 years; 3.12 in those ages 75-84 years; and 6.96 in those ages ≥85 years.[5] Overall the incidence of VTE in men is slightly higher than in women, but there is a female predominance in people under 45 years old or >80 years old.[1][5]​​​ Compared with people of European ancestry in the US, VTE incidence is higher in African-American people and lower in Asian and American Indian people.[5][7]

The incidence of DVT during pregnancy or the postpartum period is approximately 1 case per 1000 live births.[8]​ Other clinical situations are associated with widely variable incidences of DVT. For instance, orthopedic surgical patients have a DVT incidence ranging from approximately 1% to 4% depending upon the utilization of pharmacologic prophylaxis, while the incidence in acutely ill medical patients is approximately 0.5% to 6%, depending heavily upon the method of diagnosis, inclusion of asymptomatic versus only symptomatic VTE, utilization of pharmacologic prophylaxis, and duration of follow-up.[9] In critically ill patients an incidence as high as 37.2% has been reported.[10] Incidences of DVT and pulmonary embolism (PE) associated with infection by COVID-19 are also broad, with stronger associations with earlier virus variants and more severe illness.[11]​ The population incidence is increasing slowly as the proportion of the population that is older increases, and as testing for DVT using ultrasound and testing for PE using multi-detector chest computed tomographic angiography increases.

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