Knee-length graduated compression stockings for thromboprophylaxis in air travellers: A meta-analysis

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the randomized controlled trials that have evaluated the efficacy of knee-length (KL) compression stockings for thromboprophylaxis in air travellers. METHOD: After an electronic database search, the randomized controlled trials that studied passengers on long-haul flights were selected and analyzed to generate summative data. RESULTS: Nine trials studying participants using KL stockings were analyzed. Forty-six of 1261 participants randomly assigned to the control group developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT), compared with two of 1237 participants (0.16%) in the KL stockings group. The weighted risk difference was -0.034, which indicated that the absolute difference was 3.4% in the incidence of DVT, in favour of KL stockings. The number needed to treat with KL stockings to avoid one case of DVT was 29.4. However, there was significant heterogeneity among trials. The RR for DVT was 0.08 in high-risk participants and 0.14 in low-to medium-risk participants. CONCLUSION: KL stockings are effective for thromboprophylaxis in air travellers at low, medium and high risk of DVT. The use of KL stockings should form an important part of air traveller education on lowering the burden of DVT. The results of the present meta-analysis can be used to advise travellers on their risk of DVT and preventive strategies.

Pulmonary Embolism Following Incomplete Surgical Resection of a Right Ventricular Myxoma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

“…Tumor emboli usually display a more peripheral distribution in the subsegmental arteries (as likely occurred in our patient) [23]. On the other hand, thromboemboli are associated with long and multiple airplane flights [24]. Therefore, the fact that the patient in the case we are reporting had taken numerous and long flights before he suffered from PE raises the possibility that thromboembolism contributed to the PE.…”

Depressive Symptoms as a Novel Risk Factor for Recurrent Venous Thromboembolism: A Longitudinal Observational Study in Patients Referred for Thrombophilia Investigation

“…In a complementary model, we additionally entered covariates associated with depressive symptoms with a p<0.20 on bivariate analysis, but separately so to protect the model from being overfitted. We considered the following potentially important covariates based on their known associations with depressive symptoms and/or risk of recurrent VTE [ 11 – 13 , 21 – 25 , 33 , 34 ]: age, sex, SES, obesity, recurrent VTE vs. first-time VTE prior to thrombophilia investigation, proximal DVT and/or PE vs. distal DVT, unprovoked VTE vs. provoked VTE, D-dimer ≥250 ng/ml vs. <250 ng/ml, OAC at the time of the clinical visit for thrombophilia investigation (yes/no), as well as any OAC therapy (yes/no) and thromboprophylaxis in risk situations (yes/no) both since the clinical visit for thrombophilia investigation.…”