• T M Berghaus, C Thilo, W von Scheidt, and M Schwaiblmair.
• Department of Cardiology, Pneumology, Intensive Care and Endocrinology, Klinikum Augsburg, Academic Teaching Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, Augsburg, Germany. thomas.berghaus@klinikum-augsburg.de
• Clin. Appl. Thromb. Hemost. 2011 Nov 1; 17 (6): 605-10.

AbstractIt 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.

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