Prevention of venous thromboembolism in patients admitted to hospital: Topical common problem of public health and angiology

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is the most common preventable cause of death and disability due to hospitalization. Symptomatic VTE occurs in about 3% of high risk hospitalized patients and causes 50 – 60% of all cases of VTE. Postoperative VTE is the second most often complication of hospitalization, the second most often cause of prolongation of hospitalization, the third most often cause of mortality and the third most often cause of increment of treatment expenditures.
Clinical guidelines recommend prophylaxis of VTE by two methods: pharmacological prophylaxis and by compression. Combination of these two methods decreases significantly the incidence of VTE compared to single methods. Yet there are studies showing that their application to clinical practice is not always achieved. As far as ENDORSE study showed, 42% of medical inpatients are at risk for VTE according to criteria of American College o Chest Physicians, but only 40% of them received recommended prophylaxis.
Barrier is a lack of recognition of the problem of VTE. It is the task of Public Health to make aware Government Health Department officials and managers of the importance of a VTE risk assessment being performed on all patients admitted to hospital with application of appropriate prophylactic measures as recommended from evidence-based guidelines.   
During last decades huge work have done in prevention of atherosclerosis and its risk factors in Slovakia. However, it is really necessary to realize all measures in prevention of VTE on similar level and include this theme in Cardio-vascular program of Slovakia.