Outpatient Treatment of Deep Vein Thrombosis in the United States: The Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke Study.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the uptake of outpatient DVT treatment in the United States and understand how comorbidities and socioeconomic conditions impact the decision to treat as an outpatient.

DESIGN/SETTING: The Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke cohort study recruited 30,329 participants between 2003 and 2007. DVT events were ascertained through 2011.

MEASUREMENTS: Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the correlates of outpatient treatment of DVT accounting for age, sex, race, education, income, urban or rural residence, and region of residence.

RESULTS: Of 379 venous thromboembolism events, 141 participants had a DVT without diagnosed pulmonary embolism and that did not occur during hospitalization. Overall, 28% (39 of 141) of participants with DVT were treated as outpatients. In a multivariable model, the odds ratio for outpatient versus inpatient DVT treatment was 4.16 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.25-13.79) for urban versus rural dwellers, 3.29 (95% CI, 1.30-8.30) for white versus black patients, 2.41 (95% CI, 1.06-5.47) for women versus men, and 1.90 (95% CI, 1.19-3.02) for every 10 years younger in age. Living outside the southeastern United States and having higher education and income were not statistically significantly associated with outpatient treatment.

CONCLUSIONS: Despite known safety and efficacy, only 28% of participants with DVT received outpatient treatment. This study highlights populations in which efforts could be made to reduce hospital admissions.