Context

Around 1 in 1000 postpartum women suffers from venous thromboembolism (VTE).1 The occurrence of deep vein thromboses (DVT), often found in proximal veins, may affect long-term quality of life,2 and pulmonary embolisms (PE) are a leading cause of direct maternal death in this very healthy population. Given the overall low absolute risk of VTE, as well as the cost of thromboprophylaxis and its possible side-effects, the use of prophylactic heparin is unreasonable if given universally, but should be tailored to individual risks. The aim of this study was to generate a validated risk-assessment model or prediction tool to estimate the absolute risk of postpartum VTE in individual women.