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Internal medicine journal · May 2020
Pulmonary embolism: clinical presentation and diagnosis in the oldest old.
- Ting F Chan, Vincent J J Ngian, Kelvin Hsu, Anthony Frankel, and Bin S Ong.
- South Western Sydney Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- Intern Med J. 2020 May 1; 50 (5): 627-631.
AbstractThe incidence of pulmonary embolism (PE) in the oldest old (persons aged ≥85) is increasing, but there are limited data on its clinical features and diagnosis. We performed a retrospective cohort study of 302 consecutive patients with confirmed PE and compared the oldest old to the young (aged <65) and the younger old (aged 65-84). The most common symptoms in the oldest old were dyspnoea (74.3%) and tachypnoea (71.4%), but the prevalence of chest pain decreased with advancing age. Delayed diagnosis was most common in the oldest old and was associated with increasing age, absence of dyspnoea, presence of cardiorespiratory disease and a higher Charlson Comorbidity index. Better age-specific diagnostic pathways are required in this population.© 2020 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
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