Extended anticoagulation after venous thromboembolism.

Introduction: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) carries a high risk of recurrence, and this risk is strongly related to the nature of the index event. Thus, extended anticoagulation treatment is recommended for patients with a high recurrence risk and should be considered for patients with an intermediate risk. This study aimed to provide insight into the clinical practice of extended anticoagulation for VTE patients METHODS. This was a retrospective study of VTE patients covering the period from January 2020 through June 2021. We categorised patients by their estimated risk of recurrence as low (less-than 3% per year), intermediate (3-8% per year) or high (> 8% per year). The decision to stop or extend anticoagulation was made in a multidisciplinary VTE clinic.

Results: A total of 343 patients were included; 315 patients were eligible for analysis. The majority of patients (58.7%) had an intermediate recurrence risk. In total 80.3% received extended treatment. The use was highest (97.9%) among patients with a high recurrence risk, whereas 82.7% with an intermediate risk and 15.2% with a low risk received extended therapy. Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants were preferred for extended therapy (82.2%), whereas 5.1% received warfarin and 12.6% low molecular weight heparin.

Conclusions: In this real-world clinic, the majority of VTE patients switched to extended treatment after initial standard anticoagulation. The role of patient and physician preference as determinants driving this decision should be investigated further.

Funding: This study received an unrestricted grant from Bayer, which had no involvement in the study design, data collection, analysis, or manuscript preparation.

Trial registration: Not relevant.