Knowledge gaps in patients with venous thromboembolism: usefulness of a new questionnaire.

INTRODUCTION Little is known about the current awareness of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and knowledge of thromboprophylaxis among patients receiving oral anticoagulation therapy (OAC). OBJECTIVES We sought to develop and evaluate the usefulness of the Jessa AF Knowledge Questionnaire (JAKQ) modified for VTE patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS Consecutive patients at least one month since the VTE event (n=273, mean [SD] age 51 [17] years; 52.7% women; 55.9% unprovoked event) were enrolled at the study. RESULTS The median percentage of correct responses was 64.2% (53 - 73%; minimum 12% and maximum 100%). Younger patients had better knowledge about VTE in general, including a higher proportion of correct responses to the question about the definition of PE (71.4 vs. 57.7%, P=0.03), about possible consequence of DVT, including PE (81.1 vs 62%, P=0.001) and VTE risk related to long travels (78.1 vs 59.2%, P=0.002). There was no difference in overall scoring between NOAC and VKA patients (mean, [SD] 64.1%, [16.3] vs 63.9%, [13.8], respectively, P=0.7). Regardless of the type of anticoagulants, 39.3% of patients knew that VTE is not always symptomatic, 33.6% knew what to do when they missed an OAC dose, and 50% did not know which painkillers are the safest in combination with anticoagulants. Education performed in 27 patients, resulted in an increase in the median percentage of correct responses from 60% to 80 % (P=0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Knowledge on VTE and anticoagulation is suboptimal among patients on VKA and NOACs. Education of VTE patients should be improved especially in older individuals on NOACs.