Stockings have been used for many years to reduce the risk of DVT in patients having surgery. Surgery patients:
- can be fitted with stockings before they are immobile
- are usually immobile for a short time
- many can manage their own stockings so they are not rolled down around their knees!
Stroke patients:
- cannot be fitted before they become immobile, so the DVT may already have formed
- are often immobile for weeks
- are less able to apply their own or ensure that they are not rolling down
- more often have peripheral vascular disease or diabetes which makes stockings riskier
Assessing the effectiveness of stockings in surgical patients provided strong evidence that they are effective. However it was unclear whether the evidence for effectiveness in surgical patients applied to medical patients and those with stroke. The HTA review recommended more research in medical patients, and specifically those with stroke so the following Research Question arose and needed to be addressed:
“Does the routine application of thigh-length graduated compression stockings (GCS) reduce the risk of proximal DVT in immobile stroke patients admitted to hospital?”
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Page last reviewed: 16 Sep 2020
