Adherence to the use of the caprini score among Russian specialists: results of an electronic survey

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the adherence of Russian doctors to the use of the Caprini risk assessment score for venous thromboembolism complications in real clinical practice. On the basis of the Google Forms platform, an electronic questionnaire was created, with an invitation to complete it sent out by e-mail and through social networks of the educational project «School of Thrombosis». The survey was conducted from October 20 to October 30, 2021. The answers were received from 270 respondents, of which 260 questionnaires from specialists working in Russia were included in the analysis. Among the doctors, specialists in vascular surgery, including phlebology, and general surgery from private clinics and city clinical hospitals prevailed. Up to 90 % of the Russian doctors of various medical specialties are aware of the Caprini scale, up to 77 % actively use it in clinical practice, up to 74 % of the specialists use the score results to make decisions on the tactics of primary prevention of venous thromboembolism complications, and up to 28 % of the respondents interact with the scale integrated into medical records in paper or electronic format. Most respondents noted the availability of modern means of pharmacological prevention, in particular, LMWH and DOAC, in their medical institutions. As for mechanical prophylaxis, elastic bandages and compression stockings were almost equally available, but methods of actively accelerating blood flow could be afforded by no more than 15 % of the respondents. Conclusions: most of the Russian doctors surveyed note a high adherence to the use of the Caprini scale to assess the risk of venous thromboembolic complications in real clinical practice.