Predicting in-hospital death during acute presentation with pulmonary embolism to facilitate early discharge and outpatient management

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary embolism continues to be a significant cause of death. The aim was to derive and validate a risk prediction model for in-hospital death after acute pulmonary embolism to identify low risk patients suitable for outpatient management. METHODS: A confirmed acute pulmonary embolism database of 1,426 consecutive patients admitted to a tertiary-center (2000–2012) was analyzed, with odd and even years as derivation and validation cohorts respectively. Risk stratification for in-hospital death was performed using multivariable logistic-regression modelling. Models were compared using receiver-operating characteristic-curve and decision curve analyses. RESULTS: In-hospital mortality was 3.6% in the derivation cohort (n = 693). Adding day-1 sodium and bicarbonate to simplified Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (sPESI) significantly increased the C-statistic for predicting in-hospital death (0.71 to 0.86, P = 0.001). The validation cohort yielded similar results (n = 733, C-statistic 0.85). The new model was associated with a net reclassification improvement of 0.613, and an integrated discrimination improvement of 0.067. The new model also increased the C-statistic for predicting 30-day mortality compared to sPESI alone (0.74 to 0.83, P = 0.002). Decision curve analysis demonstrated superior clinical benefit with the use of the new model to guide admission for pulmonary embolism, resulting in 43 fewer admissions per 100 presentations based on a risk threshold for admission of 2%. CONCLUSIONS: A risk model incorporating sodium, bicarbonate, and the sPESI provides accurate risk prediction of acute in-hospital mortality after pulmonary embolism. Our novel model identifies patients with pulmonary embolism who are at low risk and who may be suitable for outpatient management.