Incidence of acute pulmonary embolism, related comorbidities and survival; analysis of a Swedish national cohort

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to determine the incidence of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) in Sweden and any regional differences. To assess short- and long-term survival analysis after an episode of PE, before and after excluding patients with known malignancies, and to determine the most common comorbidities prior to the PE event. METHODS: All in-hospital patients, including children, diagnosed with acute PE in 2005 were retrieved from the Swedish National Patient Registry (NPR) and incidence rates were calculated. All registered comorbidities from 1998 until the index events were collected and survival up to 4 years after the event were calculated and compared to matched controls. RESULTS: There were 5793 patients of all ages diagnosed with acute PE in 2005 resulting in a national incidence of 0.6/1000/year. The mean age was 70 years and 52% were women. The most frequent comorbidities were cardiac-, vascular-, infectious- and gastrointestinal diseases, injuries and malignancies. The mortality rates were more than doubled in patients with recent PE compared to that in a matched control group (49.1% vs 21.9%), and the excess mortality remained after exclusion of deaths occurring within one year and after exclusion of patients with any malignancy prior to the event. CONCLUSIONS: PE is associated with high age as well as with multiple comorbidities, and with an increased short- and long-term mortality. This study highlights the importance of a proper follow-up after an acute PE. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12872-017-0587-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.