Adherence to thromboprophylaxis guidelines in elderly patients with hospital acquired venous thromboembolism: a case control study

Venous thromboembolism ( VTE) remains the number one preventable cause of hospital acquired mortality and morbidity. Each year, more than 12 million patients are at risk for VTE. The delivery of appropriate and timely VTE prophylaxis is still suboptimal in many healthcare institutions and can lead to increased readmissions, morbidity, as well as costs. To clarify this issue further, we performed a retrospective case control study at our institution to determine if poor adherence to the VTE prophylaxis guidelines could lead to an increase in VTE events. This was a retrospective case control study conducted at Winthrop-University Hospital from January 2007 to December 2011. Exclusion criteria were age