Why the study?
Does older age affect the delay in diagnosis and in-hospital mortality in patients with acute pulmonary embolism?
Does older age affect the delay in diagnosis and in-hospital mortality in patients with acute pulmonary embolism?
In patients with acute pulmonary embolism, older age is associated with higher in-hospital mortality, but this worse prognosis is not driven by a delay in diagnosis.
Older age signals higher acute PE mortality independent of diagnostic delay; leaves open other age-specific risks for prospective study.
It has been speculated that the atypical clinical presentation of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) in older patients leads to a late diagnosis and therefore contributes to a worse prognosis. Therefore, we prospectively evaluated the delay in diagnosis and its relation to the in-hospital mortality in 202 patients with acute PE. Patients >65 years presented more often with hypoxia (P = .017) and with a history of syncope (P = .046). Delay in diagnosis was not statistically different in both age groups. Older age was significantly associated with an increased risk for in-hospital mortality (OR 4.36, 95% CI 0.93-20.37, P = .043), whereas the delay in diagnosis was not associated with an increase of in-hospital mortality. We therefore conclude that the clinical presentation of acute PE in older patients cannot be considered as a risk factor for late diagnosis and is not responsible for their higher in-hospital death rate.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Berghaus et al. (2011) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: