• N Verma, P Willeke, P Bicsán, P Lebiedz, H Pavenstädt, and P Kümpers.
• Medizinische Klinik D, Abteilung für Allg. Innere Medizin, Nephrologie und Rheumatologie, Universitätsklinikum Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, 48149, Münster, Deutschland.
• Med Klin Intensivmed Notfmed. 2014 Mar 1;109(2):121-8.

BackgroundIn elderly patients, an unspecific increase of fibrin degradation products in blood is observed. Thus, the D-dimer test to rule out thromboembolic events has a high false-positive rate in elderly patients. Our aim was to validate an age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off and to assess its utility in elderly patients.MethodsIn a retrospective cohort of outpatients (n = 1033) presenting to our emergency department with suspected acute pulmonary embolism and/or deep vein thrombosis (PE/DVT), age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off values were derived using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Subsequently, the proportion of patients with normal D-dimer and false-negative test results, respectively, and the number needed-to-test (NNT) were compared for conventional and age-adjusted cut-off values.ResultsUsing the conventional cut-off of 0.5 mg/dl, PE/DVT could be excluded in 68 % of patients, whereas the age-adjusted cut-off [(age × 0.016) mg/l] ruled out 77 % of patients. Particularly in patients > 70 years, the negative prediction accuracy of excluding a PE/DVT increased explicitly. The failure rate of the age-adjusted cut-off value was 0.8 % (95 % confidence interval 0.3-1.6 %).ConclusionThe age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off point increases the proportion of older patients, in whom an acute thromboembolic event can be excluded.

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