Prediction of the future risK of venous thromboembolism in elderly PeoPle at an ambulatory

The incidence of venous thromboembolism increases with age. The presence of risk factors for venous thromboembolism is the initial condition for the establishment of clinical suspicion and proper prophylaxis. OBJECTIVE: To identify future risk to venous thromboembolism, according to the characteristics of each person at the geriatric ambulatory, and to evaluate the need for more active prevention. METHOD: QThrombosis questionnaire was applied, which was developed and validated by University Park, Nottingham, UK, in the Division of Primary Care, and published in the British Medical Journal in 2011, with a review of medical records, calculating thus the absolute risk of venous thromboembolism. RESULTS: We evaluated 160 records, including 119 women and 41 men, mean age 76.4. We observed that most patients are in the range of 0-0.5% of risk in year one, and 1.1 to 5.0% in year five. No one had risk greater than 10% in one year, and in five years we found that 1.25% of patients have a risk greater than 10%, with confidence interval of this percentage being between 0.15% and 4.44%. CONCLUSION: Aging involves changes that may increase the risk of venous thromboembolism. When assessing this population, we identified that the average risk for venous thromboembolism within 1 year and 5 years does not warrant systematic implementation of clinical preventive services for venous thromboembolism. The recommended approach is to individualize each case, since the event of venous thromboembolism is serious and potentially fatal, and can cause much harm to the patient, impacting his/her way of life.