Objectives To analyze the inter-observer reliability of risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in a population of adult acutely-ill medical patients. Methods In this prospective cohort study, we collected risk factors and risk classification for VTE using RAM IMPROVE7. Kappa statistics was used to evaluate inter-observer reliability between lead clinicians and trained researchers. We evaluated occurrence of VTE in patients with mismatched classification. Results We included 2,380 patients, median age 70 years (interquartile range [IQR], 58-79), 56.2% female. Adjusted Kappa for VTE risk factors ranged from substantial (0.64, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.61-0.67) for “immobilization”, to almost perfect (0.98; 95% CI 0.97-0.99) for “thrombophilia”; risk classification was 0.64 (95% CI 0.60-0.67). Divergent risk classification occurred in 434 patients (18.2%) of whom seven (1.6%) developed VTE. Conclusion Despite substantial to almost perfect reliability between observers for risk factors and risk classification, lead clinicians tended to underestimate the risk for VTE.
The negative predictive value of D-dimer on the risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism in patients with multiple previous events: A prospective cohort study (the PROLONG PLUS study)