Comparison of two risk assessment tools in predicting deep venous thrombosis in critically ill patients

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the power of two risk assessment tools in predicting deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in critically ill patients. Methods The DVT risks of totally 221 critically ill patients admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of West China Hospital, Sichuan University, between January and August 2016 were evaluated with Autar DVT Scale and Caprini DVT Scale, respectively. The predictive power of the two tools was statistically compared. Results The areas under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC-ROC) of Autar DVT Scale and Caprini DVT Scale in predicting DVT in the patients were 0.525 and 0.697, respectively (P<0.05) . There was also statistic difference between the two scales in predicting DVT in the inpatients in ICU (P<0.05) . Conclusions Both tools are useful and reliable in predicting DVT in the inpatients in ICU, but Caprini DVT Scale has a stronger predictive power. Key words: Deep venous thrombosis; Critically ill patients; Prediction; Autar DVT Scale; Caprini DVT Scale