Doctors not doing everything to prevent blood clots

A new study reveals hospital doctors aren’t doing nearly enough to prevent life-threatening blood clots in their patients.

Blood clots that travel to the lungs are the number one cause of preventable death in the hospital, accounting for up to 10 percent of all deaths.

Risk factors for severe blood clots include older age, a history of smoking, obesity and a serious lung disease such as emphysema or pneumonia.

In a new worldwide study, doctors examined nearly 70,000 patients in 32 countries and found that over half of patients had high odds for life-threatening blood clots.

But thousands of people weren’t receiving recommended treatments to reduce their risk.

Guidelines from the American College of Chest Physicians suggest at-risk patients be treated blood thinning drugs such as heparin and aspirin.

In some cases, patients also use compression stockings on their legs to reduce the chances of a blood clot forming.

However, worldwide just 59 percent of surgical patients and 40 percent of non-surgical patients received these treatments.

The authors say that hospital-wide changes are needed so that doctors learn to recognize and treat these high-risk patients.