Journal of the American College of Surgeons
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Perioperative thromboprophylaxis guidelines offer conflicting recommendations on when to start thromboprophylaxis. As a result, there is considerable variation in clinical practice, which can lead to worse patient outcomes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between the start time of perioperative thromboprophylaxis with venous thromboembolism (VTE) and bleeding outcomes. ⋯ This meta-analysis found a nonstatistically significant decrease in the rate of VTE and an increase in the rate of bleeding when thromboprophylaxis was initiated preoperatively compared with postoperatively.