Clinical characteristics and nursing of lower extremity deep vein thrombosis in elderly patients in Intensive Care Unit of Neurology Department

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of lower extremity deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in elderly patients in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Neurology Department, and to provide evidence for early implementation of preventive strategies. Methods Totally 229 patients who were admitted to the ICU of Neurology Department in a hospital from March 2017 to October 2018 were collected as the participants of the study and divided into the elderly group (age≥60 years) and non-elderly group (age<60 years) according to their ages. Self-designed questionnaire was used to collect the patients' general information, relevant factors of the lower extremity DVT, and information of commonly seen problems in elderly population such as history of hypertension and diabetes. SPSS 22.0 was used for data analysis. Results Among the 229 patients, 97 were diagnosed as lower extremity DVT, the incidence was 42.4%. Among them, the number of lower extremity DVT in the elderly group was 62, and the incidence was 57.4%, while the number in the non-elderly group was 35, and the incidence was 28.9%, and there was statistically significant difference between the two groups (P 0.05) , and the main type of DVT was intramuscular venous thrombosis. Conclusions Ischemic cerebrovascular disease, high level fibrinogen accompanied by hypertension, diabetes mellitus and heart disease are the main factors of DVT formation in the lower extremity of elderly patients in ICU of Neurology Department. Reducing hormone use is the protective factor of DVT prevention in lower extremities. Neurological ICU needs to pay early attention to the occurrence of DVT in the lower extremities of the elderly, especially the intramuscular venous thrombosis. Early prevention and interventions should be initiated to reduce the incidence of DVT in the lower extremities of elderly patients in Neurological ICU. Key words: Venous thrombosis; Lower extremity; Department of Neurology; Intensive Care Unit