The impact of age on the delay in diagnosis in patients with acute pulmonary embolism

Abstract

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. © SAGE Publications 2011.