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Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a tremendous burden in health care. However, current guidelines lack recommendations regarding the prevention of VTE in older adult trauma patients. Furthermore, the appropriate method of modeling of age in VTE models is currently unclear., Methods: Patients included in the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) between the years 2008 and 2014 and patients included in the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) between 2009 and 2013 were analyzed. Multiple logistic regression of VTE on age was performed., Results: Of 3,598,881 patients in the NTDB, 34,202 (1.0%) were diagnosed with VTE compared to 5405 (1.1%) of the 505,231 patients in NIS. In both the fully adjusted NTDB and NIS model, age was positively associated with odds of VTE diagnosis under 65 years (NTDB, adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.018, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.017-1.019, P < 0.001; NIS, aOR: 1.025, 95% CI 1.022-1.027, P < 0.001). In patients aged ≥65 years, age was negatively associated with odds of VTE diagnosis in the NTDB (aOR: 0.995, 95% CI: 0.992-0.999, P = 0.006) but not in the NIS (aOR: 0.998, 95% CI 0.994-1.002, P = 0.26)., Conclusions: Incidence of VTE among adult trauma patients steadily increases with age until 65 years, after which the odds of VTE appear to level off or even slightly decrease. These findings should be applied for improved modeling of VTE in trauma patients. The mechanism behind these findings should be explored before using them to update guidelines for standardized VTE prevention in older adults., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To investigate the effect of providing personal clinical effectiveness performance feedback to general surgery residents regarding prescription of appropriate venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis., Background: Residents are frequently charged with prescribing medications for patients, including VTE prophylaxis, but rarely receive individual performance feedback regarding these practice habits., Methods: This prospective cohort study at the Johns Hopkins Hospital compared outcomes across 3 study periods: (1) baseline, (2) scorecard alone, and (3) scorecard plus coaching. All general surgery residents (n = 49) and surgical patients (n = 2420) for whom residents wrote admission orders during the first 9 months of the 2013-2014 academic year were included. Outcomes included the proportions of patients prescribed appropriate VTE prophylaxis, patients with preventable VTE, and residents prescribing appropriate VTE prophylaxis for every patient, and results from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education resident survey., Results: At baseline, 89.4% of patients were prescribed appropriate VTE prophylaxis and only 45% of residents prescribed appropriate prophylaxis for every patient. During the scorecard period, appropriate VTE prophylaxis prescription significantly increased to 95.4% (P < 0.001). For the scorecard plus coaching period, significantly more residents prescribed appropriate prophylaxis for every patient (78% vs 45%, P = 0.0017). Preventable VTE was eliminated in both intervention periods (0% vs 0.35%, P = 0.046). After providing feedback, significantly more residents reported receiving data about practice habits on the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education resident survey (87% vs 38%, P < 0.001)., Conclusions: Providing personal clinical effectiveness feedback including data and peer-to-peer coaching improves resident performance, and results in a significant reduction in harm for patients.

Objectives: Identify risk factors for venous thromboembolism and develop venous thromboembolism risk assessment models for pediatric trauma patients., Design: Single institution and national registry retrospective cohort studies., Setting: John Hopkins level 1 adult and pediatric trauma center and National Trauma Data Bank., Patients: Patients 21 years and younger hospitalized following traumatic injuries at John Hopkins (1987-2011). Patients 21 years and younger in the National Trauma Data Bank (2008-2010 and 2011-2012)., Interventions: None., Measurements and Main Results: Clinical characteristics of Johns Hopkins patients with and without venous thromboembolism were compared, and multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent venous thromboembolism risk factors. Weighted risk assessment scoring systems were developed based on these and previously identified factors from National Trauma Data Bank patients (2008-2010); the scoring systems were validated in this cohort from Johns Hopkins and a cohort from the National Trauma Data Bank (2011-2012). Forty-nine of 17,366 pediatric trauma patients (0.28%) were diagnosed with venous thromboembolism after admission to our trauma center. After adjusting for potential confounders, venous thromboembolism was independently associated with older age, surgery, blood transfusion, higher Injury Severity Score, and lower Glasgow Coma Scale score. These and additional factors were identified in 402,329 pediatric patients from the National Trauma Data Bank from 2008 to 2010; independent risk factors from the logistic regression analysis of this National Trauma Data Bank cohort were selected and incorporated into weighted risk assessment scoring systems. Two models were developed and were cross-validated in two separate pediatric trauma cohorts: 1) 282,535 patients in the National Trauma Data Bank from 2011 to 2012 and 2) 17,366 patients from Johns Hopkins. The receiver operating curve using these models in the validation cohorts had area under the curves that ranged 90-94%., Conclusions: Venous thromboembolism is infrequent after trauma in pediatric patients. We developed weighted scoring systems to stratify pediatric trauma patients at risk for venous thromboembolism. These systems may have potential to guide risk-appropriate venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in children after trauma.

Importance: No national standardized guidelines exist to date for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis after pediatric trauma. While the risk of VTE after trauma is generally lower for children than for adults, the precise age at which the risk of VTE increases is not clear., Objective: To identify the age at which the risk of VTE after trauma increases from the low rate seen in children toward the higher rate seen in adults., Design, Setting, and Participants: Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the association between age and the odds of VTE when adjusting for other VTE risk factors. Participants included 402 329 patients 21 years or younger who were admitted following traumatic injury between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2010, at US trauma centers participating in the National Trauma Data Bank., Main Outcomes and Measures: Diagnosis of VTE as a complication during hospital admission., Results: Venous thromboembolism was diagnosed in 1655 patients (0.4%). Those having VTE were more severely injured compared with those not having VTE and more frequently required critical care, blood transfusion, central line placement, mechanical ventilation, and surgery. The risk of VTE was low among younger patients, occurring in 0.1% of patients 12 years or younger, but increased to 0.3% in patients aged 13 to 15 years and to 0.8% in patients 16 years or older. These findings remained when adjusting for other factors, with patients aged 13 to 15 years (adjusted odds ratio, 1.96, 95% CI 1.53-2.52; P < .001) and patients aged 16 to 21 years (adjusted odds ratio, 3.77; 95% CI, 3.00-4.75; P < .001) having a significantly higher odds of being diagnosed as having VTE compared with patients aged 0 to 12 years. These findings were consistent across the level of injury severity and the type of trauma center., Conclusions and Relevance: The risk of VTE varies considerably across patient age and increases most dramatically at age 16 years, after a smaller increase at age 13 years. These findings can be used to guide future research into the development of standardized guidelines for VTE prophylaxis after pediatric trauma.