Age-Stratified National Trends in Pulmonary Embolism Admissions

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is one of the leading causes of death in hospitalized patients. Treatment patterns and patient demographics for PE are changing; therefore, we sought to evaluate national trends in admission rate, discharge disposition, and length of stay (LOS) in patients hospitalized with PE.

The National Inpatient Sample database was used to collect data for hospitalizations of patients ≥ 20 years old with primary diagnosis of PE between January 2000 and September 2015. Patient demographics and hospital characteristics, stratified by patient age, were reported. Trends in rates of hospitalizations for PE, LOS, discharge disposition, and hospital charges were assessed across age groups.

There were an estimated 2,159,568 hospitalizations with primary diagnosis of PE. The rate of PE per 100,000 persons increased by > 100%, and was highest among elderly patients. Increased age and comorbidity burden were independently associated with poor outcomes. Inpatient mortality and LOS decreased across all age groups, but was highest in the elderly. Home health utilization increased in patients ≥ 55 years old. Average hospital charges increased across all age groups, despite shorter length of stay, with patients ≥ 85 experiencing $13,000 average increase.

Between 2000 and 2015, the rate of hospitalization for PE increased across all age groups. Despite improvements in average LOS and inpatient mortality, hospitalizations became more expensive, and patients required more resources (ie, home health) on discharge. This increased resource utilization was most apparent in elderly patients. This suggests that targeted clinical trials designed to improve outcomes in all age brackets are needed.