Introduction: The current awareness of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and knowledge of thromboprophylaxis among patients receiving oral anticoagulation therapy (OAC) are insufficient.

Objectives: We sought to develop and evaluate the usefulness of the Jessa AF Knowledge Questionnaire (JAKQ), modified for VTE patients.

Patients and methods: Consecutive patients at least 1 month since the VTE event (n = 273, mean [SD] age, 51 [17] years; 52.7%, women; 55.9%, unprovoked event) were enrolled to the study.

Results: The median percentage of correct responses was 64.2% (interquartile range, 53%–73%; minimum, 12%; maximum, 100%). Younger patients had better knowledge about VTE in general, including a higher proportion of correct responses to the question about the definition of PE (71.4% vs 57.7%, P = 0.03), about the possible consequence of DVT, including PE (81.1% vs 62%, P = 0.001) and VTE risk related to long travels (78.1% vs 59.2%, P = 0.002). There was no difference in overall scoring between patients taking new oral anticoagulants and those taking vitamin K antagonists (mean [SD], 64.1% [16.3%] vs 63.9% [13.8%], respectively, P = 0.7). Regardless of the type of anticoagulants, 39.3% of patients knew that VTE is not always symptomatic, 33.6% knew what to do when they missed an OAC dose, and 50% did not know which painkillers are the safest in combination with anticoagulants. Education applied in 27 patients resulted in an increase in the median percentage of correct responses from 60% to 80% (P = 0.0001).

Conclusions: Knowledge on VTE and anticoagulation is suboptimal among patients on VKA and NOACs. Education of VTE patients should be improved especially in older individuals on NOACs.