Logo: to the web site of Uppsala University

uu.sePublications from Uppsala University
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Randomised, controlled trial of low-dose heparin for prevention of fatal pulmonary embolism in patients with infectious diseases. The Heparin Prophylaxis Study Group.
Show others and affiliations
1996 (English)In: The Lancet, ISSN 0140-6736, E-ISSN 1474-547X, Vol. 347, no 9012, p. 1357-61Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

BACKGROUND: Fatal pulmonary embolism and other thromboembolic complications are common in hospital inpatients. However, there is little evidence on the routine use of pharmacological thromboprophylaxis in non-surgical patients. We assessed the efficacy and safety of low-dose heparin in the prevention of hospital-acquired, clinically relevant, fatal pulmonary embolism in patients with infectious diseases.

METHODS: Our study used the postrandomisation consent design. 19,751 consecutive patients, aged 55 years or older, admitted to departments of infectious diseases in six Swedish hospitals, were screened for inclusion in the randomised, controlled, unblinded, multicentre trial. Of the eligible patients, 5776 were assigned subcutaneous standard heparin (5000 IU every 12 h) until hospital discharge or for a maximum of 3 weeks; 5917 were assigned no prophylactic treatment (control group). We sought consent only from the heparin group. Follow-up was for 3 weeks after discharge from hospital or for a maximum of 60 days from randomisation. The primary endpoint was necropsy-verified pulmonary embolism of predefined clinical relevance.

FINDINGS: By intention-to-treat analysis mortality was similar in the heparin and control groups (5.3 vs 5.6%, p = 0.39) and the median time from admission to death was 16 days in both groups (IQR 8-31 vs 6-28 days). Necropsy-verified pulmonary embolism occurred in 15 heparin-treated and 16 control-group patients. There was a significant difference between heparin and control groups in median time from randomisation to fatal pulmonary embolism (28 [24-36] vs 12.5 [10-20] days, p = 0.007). This difference corresponds to the duration of heparin prophylaxis. Non-fatal thromboembolic complications occurred in more of the control than of the heparin group (116 vs 70, p = 0.0012).

INTERPRETATION: Our findings do not support the routine use of heparin prophylaxis for 3 weeks or less in large groups of non-surgical patients. Further studies are needed to investigate whether heparin prophylaxis of longer duration may prevent fatal pulmonary embolism.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
1996. Vol. 347, no 9012, p. 1357-61
National Category
Medical and Health Sciences Clinical Medicine Infectious Medicine
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-343099PubMedID: 8637340OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-343099DiVA, id: diva2:1185499
Available from: 2018-02-25 Created: 2018-02-25 Last updated: 2018-02-25

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

PubMed

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Nilsson, K
In the same journal
The Lancet
Medical and Health SciencesClinical MedicineInfectious Medicine

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 25 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf