Published in

Frontiers Media, Frontiers in Medicine, (9), 2022

DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2022.888451

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Anti-factor Xa Activity Is Not Associated With Venous Thromboembolism in Critically Ill Patients Receiving Enoxaparin for Thromboprophylaxis: A Retrospective Observational Study

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

BackgroundAnti-factor Xa activity has been suggested as a surrogate parameter for judging the effectiveness of pharmacological thromboprophylaxis with low molecular weight heparins in critically ill patients. However, this practice is not supported by evidence associating low anti-factor Xa activity with venous thromboembolism.MethodsWe performed a retrospective observational study including 1,352 critically ill patients admitted to 6 intensive care units of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria between 01/2015 and 12/2018. Included patients received prophylactically dosed enoxaparin (≤100 IU/kg body weight per day). We analyzed median peak, 12-h trough and 24-h trough anti-factor Xa activity per patient and compared anti-factor Xa activity between patients without vs. with venous thromboembolic events.Results19 patients (1.4%) developed a total of 22 venous thromboembolic events. We did not observe a difference of median (IQR) anti-factor Xa activity between patients without venous thromboembolism [peak 0.22 IU/mL (0.14–0.32); 12-h trough 0.1 IU/mL (<0.1–0.17), 24-h trough < 0.1 IU/mL (<0.1– <0.1)] vs. patients with venous thromboembolism [peak 0.33 IU/mL (0.14–0.34); 12-h trough 0.12 IU/mL (<0.1–0.26); 24-h trough < 0.1 IU/mL (<0.1–<0.1)].ConclusionPatients who developed venous thromboembolism had anti-factor Xa activities comparable to those who did not suffer from venous thromboembolism.