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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Am J Med. 2014 May 6;127(9):829–839.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2014.03.041

Table 1.

Characteristics of patients with venous thromboembolism in the Worcester venous thromboembolism study (1985–2009)

Study year P value

1985/1986
(n=617)
1988/1989
(n=618)
1999
(n=539)
2001
(n=597)
2003
(n=554)
2005
(n=608)
2007
(n=698)
2009
(n=794)
Trend test 1985/86 vs 2009
First-time venous thromboembolism at index visit, n (% of total venous thromboembolism) 405 (65.6) 442 (71.5) 435 (80.7) 482 (82.4) 466 (84.1) 482 (79.3) 542 (77.7) 633 (79.7) <.001 <.001

 Demographic characteristics
  Age (years) .001 .04
   Mean (standard deviation) 65.9 (17.2) 66.4 (17.4) 66.4 (17.7) 65.8 (17.3) 63.0 (17.9) 62.7 (18.9) 65.0 (18.1) 63.7 (17.8)
   Median (interquartile range) 69 (60–78) 70 (60–78) 72 (54–80) 69 (54–81) 65 (50–78) 65 (48–79) 68 (52–80) 65 (50–80)
  Men (%) 48.6 45.5 43.4 41.9 46.8 41.3 47.6 44.6 .34 .75
  White (%) 97.5 98.2 95.4 93.5 93.6 94.8 95.7 92.5 <.001 .001
 Recent* medical characteristics (%)
  Body mass index class
   <25 kg/m2 42.1 44.2 35.3 32.9 26.0 36.5 28.9 26.9 <.001 <.001
   25–30 kg/m2 35.1 28.8 27.4 31.4 33.3 28.4 35.2 29.5 .80 .11
   >30 kg/m2 22.8 27.1 37.3 35.6 4.7 35.1 35.9 43.6 <.001 <.001
  Congestive heart failure 20.2 11.5 13.1 14.9 11.2 10.0 9.2 7.4 <.001 <.001
  Myocardial infarction 4.9 3.4 5.1 7.3 6.4 4.1 3.0 2.5 .25 .04
  Stroke 4.2 6.6 6.4 7.1 5.6 2.7 2.2 2.2 .001 .07
  Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 23.2 15.8 17.0 21.4 16.7 21.8 24.7 23.7 .04 .86
  Diabetes 14.3 16.5 17.0 22.4 18.0 17.2 23.4 18.8 .005 .06
  Malignancy 30.4 23.3 19.3 19.9 12.7 15.6 16.8 19.0 <.001 <.001
  Trauma/fracture 12.8 13.8 17.7 21.0 13.5 9.8 8.9 9.5 .006 .09
  Hormone replacement therapy/oral contraceptives 4.3 4.6 21.1 21.4 14.9 10.6 7.4 10.9 .008 .01
  Post partum 3.8 1.7 2.4 1.1 1.2 2.5 1.1 1.4 .08 .07
  Any surgery, including index admission 34.6 30.5 29.2 30.5 25.8 28.2 23.2 22.7 <.001 <.001
 Venous thromboembolism characteristics (%)
  Type of venous thromboembolism event
   Pulmonary embolism alone 24.2 22.2 15.9 20.5 18.9 28.4 29.9 28.8 <.001 .11
   Pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis 8.2 6.6 15.6 14.7 15.2 18.9 19.6 19.7 <.001 <.001
 Lower-extremity deep vein thrombosis alone 67.7 71.3 68.5 64.7 65.9 52.7 50.5 51.5 <.001 <.001
  Community acquired 78.0 80.1 73.6 75.1 75.8 78.8 79.5 77.1 .68 .73
 Hospital encounter,
  Admitted to hospital§ (%) 100 100 77.7 77.2 70.8 74.3 73.1 71.1 <.001 <.001
  If admitted, length of stay, days <.001 <.001
   Mean (standard deviation) 15.3 (24.1) 15.1 (15.5) 9.0 (10.0) 10.1 (11.5) 9.6 (10.8) 8.5 (11.0) 7.2 (8.6) 6.9 (8.0)
   Median (interquartile range) 10 (8–19) 10 (7–16) 6 (4–9) 6 (4–10) 6 (4–10) 5 (3–9) 5 (3–8) 5 (3–8)
Recurrent venous thromboembolism at index visit, n (% of total venous thromboembolism) 212 (34.4) 176 (28.5) 104 (19.3) 115 (19.3) 88 (15.9) 126 (20.7) 156 (22.4) 161 (20.3) <.001 <.001
 Patient characteristics
  Age (years) .10 .17
   Mean (standard deviation) 62.6 (17.3) 61.1 (19.0) 64.1 (16.6) 64.7 (17.2) 65.4 (17.7) 63.8 (18.0) 66.9 (15.5) 64.9 (16.8)
   Median (interquartile range) 66 (49–75) 67 (48–75) 69 (51–77) 67 (51–80) 71 (54–79) 64 (49–80) 69 (57–80) 67 (53–79)
  Men (%) 45.8 55.1 47.1 47.0 50.0 48.4 50.0 51.6 .83 .27
  White (%) 96.2 97.2 90.7 93.6 95.4 96.0 94.7 92.4 .08 .10
 Recent* medical characteristics (%)
  Body mass index class
   <25 kg/m2 39.0 38.6 33.8 30.9 28.1 34.8 28.9 27.6 .01 .04
   25–30 kg/m2 30.8 36.2 36.4 35.8 35.1 28.1 31.6 30.6 .60 .97
   >30 kg/m2 30.1 25.2 29.9 33.3 36.8 37.1 39.5 41.8 .002 .04
  Congestive heart failure 18.9 9.7 8.7 13.9 6.8 4.0 10.7 8.1 <.001 .003
  Myocardial infarction 2.8 0.6 3.8 3.5 6.8 1.6 3.8 3.7 .14 .63
  Stroke 4.2 1.7 9.6 5.2 6.8 1.6 0.6 1.2 .26 .12
  Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 25.9 19.3 19.2 20.9 10.2 26.2 32.7 29.8 .13 .41
  Diabetes 15.6 11.4 17.3 16.5 13.6 19.0 19.2 26.7 .003 .01
  Malignancy 25.9 25.0 11.5 13.9 9.1 15.1 19.2 16.8 <.001 .03
 Trauma/fracture 4.2 5.1 12.5 12.2 12.5 8.7 4.5 8.1 .07 .12
  Hormone replacement therapy/oral contraceptives 3.5 6.3 36.4 26.2 6.8 9.2 2.6 6.4 .32 .45
  Post partum 2.6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .01 .27
  Any surgery, including index admission 15.6 16.5 17.3 15.7 10.2 21.4 16.7 17.4 .61 .64
 Venous thromboembolism characteristics (%)
  Type of venous thromboembolism event
   Pulmonary embolism alone 16.5 15.3 12.5 20.0 13.6 16.7 17.3 23.6 .10 .09
   Pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis 9.4 10.2 13.5 9.6 8.0 11.1 12.8 13.7 .20 .20
   Lower-extremity deep vein thrombosis alone 74.1 74.4 74.0 70.4 78.4 72.2 69.9 62.7 .02 .02
  Community acquired 91.0 91.5 86.5 85.2 86.4 82.5 82.7 77.6 <.001 <.001
 Hospital encounter§ (%)
  Admitted to hospital 100 100 78.8 63.5 68.2 70.6 65.4 73.3 <.001 <.001
  If admitted, length of stay, days <.001 <.001
   Mean (standard deviation) 11.9 (11.3) 10.9 (7.8) 7.4 (8.4) 7.0 (9.3) 6.4 (7.0) 6.7 (5.9) 9.5 (10.4) 6.3 (8.0)
   Median (interquartile range) 9 (7–13) 9 (7–13) 5 (4–8) 5 (3–8) 4 (2–7) 5 (3–8) 6 (3–10) 3 (2–7)
*

Recent defined as <6 months in 1980s cohort, <3 months in 1999–2007 cohort.

Among women.

§

Reflecting the standard care for the treatment of acute venous thromboembolism in 1980s, cohorts 85/86 and 88/89 included only inpatients diagnosed with acute venous thromboembolism.