Incidence and Risk Factors for Venous Thromboembolic Events After Open Shoulder Surgery

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough venous thromboembolic (VTE) events are known to develop after lower extremity surgery, there is little research on the risk of VTE after upper extremity surgery. The aim of this study is to identify the risk factors for VTE in patients undergoing open shoulder surgery.MethodsWe used International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification procedure codes to identify patients in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 1998 to 2011 who underwent open shoulder surgery. Patients were tracked to determine the incidence of VTE after surgery and stratified by demographics, comorbidities, and hospital characteristics. Risk factors were analyzed using multivariate analysis.ResultsA total of 315 423 open shoulder procedures were identified in the NIS from 1998 to 2011, of which 1420 (0.45%) carried a diagnosis of VTE, with 873 (0.27%) cases of pulmonary embolism, and 976 (0.31%) cases of deep vein thrombosis. The VTE incidence was similar in common shoulder surgeries, incl...