Validity of Caprini risk assessment scale for assessing risk of venous thromboembolism in pregnancy and the puerperium

ZOU Yi-lu; WU Jian-bo; HU Ji-fen; CHEN Li-hong; ZHENG Shan; LIN Rong

doi:10.19538/j.fk2017110118

Abstract：Objective To test the validity of Caprini risk assessment scale in identifying the pregnancy and the puerperium patients with high venous thromboembolism (VTE) risks.Methods A case-control study was conducted in 39 VTE patients in pregnancy and the puerperium who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University from February 2004 to December 2015 in the case group,and a randomly selected group of 156 non-VTE patients in pregnancy and the puerperium who were admitted during the same period served as controls.Caprini risk assessment scale was used to assess risk assessment and risk grading of venous thromboembolism.Logistic regression analysis was performed to establish the association between Caprini VTE risk calssification and the presence of VTE,and to find the risk factors for VTE.Resuits The incidence of the VTE patients in pregnancy and the puerperium was 0.13％.The VTE patients had a Caprini score of(5.7±2.9),higher than that of the controls (3.6± 1.7).More than 94.8％ of VTE patients were rated as having "high or very high"risk of VTE by Caprini rating scale,significantly higher than the percentage in the controls(P ＜ 0.05).The incidence of VTE in pregnancy and puerperium increased with an increase in risk level.The odds ratio of VTE in patients with a very high risk as identified by Caprini score was 16.107,compared with those with a low and moderate risk.The logistic regression model identified four risk factors in the Caprini scale as predictors of VTE:varicose veins,long-term lying in bed,obesity (BMI≥25) and major surgery (surgery time ＞ 45 min).Conclusion Caprini risk assessment scale can predict the risk of VTE in pregnancy and puerperium patients.