Prevalence and main determinants of early post-traumatic thromboembolism in patients requiring ICU admission.

BACKGROUND: Post-traumatic thromboembolism (PE) is now a common challenging particularly in critically ill patients referred to emergency wards. We aimed to identify main factors associated with PE within 72 h of admission after trauma among patients referred to emergency ward.

METHODS: In this retrospective study, the database records of 240 patients, with the primary diagnosis of trauma requiring ICU admission and with a final diagnosis of pulmonary embolism, were reviewed. The patients were categorized as the subjects with early pulmonary embolism (≤3 days) and those with late pulmonary embolism (>3 days).

RESULTS: According to our analysis, 48.5% of the patients suffered PE faced this event within 72 h of trauma events. The patients in early PE group were older than those who suffered late PE. The prevalence rate of long bone fractures in lower extremities was significantly higher in those with early PE compared with the other patients. The group with early PE had more severe injury when compared to those with later PE. The severe and very severe injuries were indicated in 49.5 and 15.4% in early PE group, and 14.0 and 6.9% in late PE group, respectively. Using the multivariable logistic regression model, older age, presence of long bone fractures, and more severe injury could predict occurrence of early PE in trauma patients referred to emergency ward.

CONCLUSION: Occurring early PE is predicted in majority of traumatic patients requiring ICU admission especially in older ones, patients with long bone fractures and those with more severe injury.