Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Psychiatry. Oct 19, 2026; 16(10): 123512
Published online Oct 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.123512
Published online Oct 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.123512
Temporal association between physical restraint and venous thromboembolism risk among psychiatric inpatients: A matched case-control study
Shu-Chao Wu, Sheng-Ming Zhang, Department of Nursing, Shenzhen Mental Health Center/Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen 518020, Guangdong Province, China
Li-Juan Qiao, Department of Nursing, Shenzhen Pingshan Hospital of Southern Medical University/Shenzhen Pingshan People’s Hospital, Shenzhen 518118, Guangdong Province, China
He-Zeng Yang, Department of Psychiatry, Shenzhen Mental Health Center/Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen 518118, Guangdong Province, China
Co-corresponding authors: Li-Juan Qiao and He-Zeng Yang.
Author contributions: Wu SC conceived the study, conducted data collection, performed the statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript; Zhang SM contributed to data acquisition, data verification, and interpretation of the results; Qiao LJ contributed to the study design, provided professional support in nursing-related data interpretation, and critically revised the manuscript; Yang HZ was responsible for overall study conception, funding acquisition, and supervision of the research process; Qiao LJ and Yang HZ contributed equally to this article, they are the co-corresponding authors of this manuscript; and all authors contributed to the study and approved the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: Portions of this manuscript were edited using AI tools solely for language refinement. The authors carefully reviewed and verified all AI-assisted outputs and take full responsibility for the scientific content of the manuscript.
Supported by the Shenzhen Fund for Guangdong Provincial High-level Clinical Key Specialties, No. SZGSP013.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Shenzhen Kangning Hospital/Shenzhen Mental Health Center, approval No. 2023-K030-01.
Informed consent statement: The requirement for informed consent was waived by the Ethics Committee of Shenzhen Kangning Hospital/Shenzhen Mental Health Center because this study used retrospective and de-identified data generated during routine clinical care.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Li-Juan Qiao, MSc, Chief Nurse, Department of Nursing, Shenzhen Pingshan Hospital of Southern Medical University/Shenzhen Pingshan People’s Hospital, No. 51 Julongshan Road, Pingshan District, Shenzhen 518118, Guangdong Province, China.
Received: May 21, 2026
Revised: July 27, 2026
Accepted: August 31, 2026
Published online: October 19, 2026
Processing time: 143 Days and 2.7 Hours
Revised: July 27, 2026
Accepted: August 31, 2026
Published online: October 19, 2026
Processing time: 143 Days and 2.7 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This matched case-control study evaluated the temporal association between physical restraint and venous thromboembolism (VTE) among psychiatric inpatients. Physical restraint was independently associated with increased VTE risk, which was particularly elevated among patients with cumulative restraint exposure exceeding 12 hours and within 7 days after restraint discontinuation. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating restraint-related temporal indicators into VTE monitoring and prevention strategies in psychiatric wards.