TY - JOUR T1 - Venous thromboembolism among Medicare acute ischaemic stroke patients with and without COVID-19 JF - Stroke and Vascular Neurology JO - Stroke Vasc Neurol DO - 10.1136/svn-2022-001814 SP - svn-2022-001814 AU - Xin Tong AU - Quanhe Yang AU - Ganesh Asaithambi AU - Robert K Merritt Y1 - 2022/11/15 UR - http://svn.bmj.com/content/early/2022/11/15/svn-2022-001814.abstract N2 - Background COVID-19 is associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). This study examined the prevalence of VTE among acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) patients with and without a history of COVID-19.Methods We identified AIS hospitalisations of Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries aged ≥65 years from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2022. We compared the prevalence and adjusted prevalence ratio of VTE among AIS patients with and without a history of COVID-19.Results Among 283 034 Medicare FFS beneficiaries with AIS hospitalisations, the prevalence of VTE was 4.51%, 2.96% and 2.61% among those with a history of hospitalised COVID-19, non-hospitalised COVID-19 and without COVID-19, respectively. As compared with patients without a history of COVID-19, the prevalence of VTE among patients with a history of hospitalised or non-hospitalised COVID-19 were 1.62 (95% CI 1.54 to 1.70) and 1.13 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.23) times greater, respectively.Conclusions There appeared to be a notably higher prevalence of VTE among Medicare beneficiaries with AIS accompanied by a current or prior COVID-19. Early recognition of coagulation abnormalities and appropriate interventions may help improve patients’ clinical outcomes. ER -