Hospital mortality due to pulmonary embolism and an evaluation of the usefulness of preventative interventions.
BACKGROUND
Mortality rates due to pulmonary embolism (PE) are difficult to estimate often due to the presence of comorbid disease.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the accuracy of hospital records in identifying PE cases, PE-related mortality, and the number of PE-related deaths which are potentially preventable.


METHODS
Retrospective chart review of PE cases hospitalized at The Ottawa Hospital over an 8 year period. Cases were reviewed to determine accuracy of coding, as well as the certainty with which PE was the cause of death. In PE-related deaths, a determination was made as to whether any interventions may have been life-saving.


RESULTS
498 cases of 612 (81%) cases coded as PE were correctly coded. 111 (22%) died during hospitalization, 63% of deaths were attributed to PE. The presence of a cardiorespiratory comorbidity or cancer was independently associated with an increased rate of death due to PE. 54% of PE-related deaths were determined to be potentially preventable, most commonly by appropriate DVT prophylaxis. A significantly higher number of cancer patients as compared to non-cancer patients may have potentially had their death due to PE prevented by an inferior vena cava filter (IVCF). Systemic thrombolysis was deemed to be potentially life-saving in 1/38 PE-related deaths.


CONCLUSIONS
Hospital mortality due to clinically recognized PE can be determined by chart review of PE cases identified using the ICD coding system. Death due to PE is often potentially preventable; in the subgroup with cancer and DVT/PE, an IVCF may be a potentially useful intervention to prevent death due to PE. Prospective studies are needed to confirm these results.
Scarvelis
Dimitrios
D
Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Anderson
Josdalyne
J
Davis
Laurie
L
Forgie
Melissa
M
Lee
James
J
Petersson
Linn
L
Ramsay
Tim
T
Wells
Philip S
PS
D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011996:Records / Q000592:standards; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016306:Vena Cava Filters / Q000009:adverse effects; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000517:prevention & control*