The IMPROVE risk score is a clinical calculator used to assess the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in hospitalized medical patients. The acronym IMPROVE stands for International Medical Prevention Registry on Venous Thromboembolism.
This risk score is specifically designed for adult patients who are hospitalized for medical illnesses, rather than surgical patients. It is used to identify patients at high risk of developing VTE, including deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), during their hospital stay.
The IMPROVE risk score includes seven risk factors: previous VTE, known thrombophilia, lower limb paralysis, immobility, active cancer, ICU or CCU admission, and age over 60 years. Each factor is assigned a certain number of points, and the total score is used to estimate the patient's risk of VTE.
The clinical utility of this calculator is to guide prophylactic anticoagulation therapy decisions in hospitalized medical patients. Patients with a high IMPROVE score may benefit from prophylactic anticoagulation to prevent VTE.
There are no specific exclusion criteria for the use of the IMPROVE risk score. However, it should not be used in patients for
Reference
Alex C Spyropoulos, Frederick A Anderson Jr, Gordon FitzGerald et al. Predictive and associative models to identify hospitalized medical patients at risk for VTE. Chest. 2011 Sep;140(3):706-714.
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