Denise Mann writing in HealthDay reported, “One of every 100 people undergoing knee replacement surgery and one of 200 people having hip replacement surgery will develop a blood clot before they leave the hospital, even if they take steps to prevent the development of these blood clots,” according to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Robert Preidt writing in Newsday reported a study published in BMC Medicine showing people with immune-related disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus may be at increased risk for developing potentially deadly blood clots during hospital stays, a new study has found. Researchers at the University of Oxford in the UK analyzed 45 years’ worth of medical records of patients who were hospitalized for immune-related disorders and had no evidence or prior history of blood clots in a vein, also called venous thromboembolism — one type of which can break off and travel to block a blood vessel in the lungs. The patients were divided into different groups based on their immune-related condition. The researchers then compared them to patients who were hospitalized for minor, non-immune-related problems such as broken bones and minor surgical procedures. The investigators found significantly elevated rates of blood clots in the veins of people with certain immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Principal investigator, Dr. Michael Goldacre and his colleagues suggested that inflammation caused by immune disorders may increase the tendency of blood to clot.
