Sex Differences in Outcomes of Percutaneous Pulmonary Artery Thrombectomy in Patients With Pulmonary Embolism

The sex differences in use, safety outcomes, and health-care resource use of patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) undergoing percutaneous pulmonary artery thrombectomy are not well characterized.

What are the sex differences in outcomes for patients diagnosed with PE who undergo percutaneous pulmonary artery thrombectomy?

This retrospective cross-sectional study used national inpatient claims data to identify patients in the United States with a discharge diagnosis of PE who underwent percutaneous thrombectomy between January 2016 and December 2018. We evaluated the demographics, comorbidities, safety outcomes (in-hospital mortality), and health-care resource use (discharge to home, length of stay, and hospital charges) of patients with PE undergoing percutaneous thrombectomy.

Among 1,128,904 patients with a diagnosis of PE between 2016 and 2018, 5,160 patients (0.5%) underwent percutaneous pulmonary artery thrombectomy. When compared with male patients, female patients showed higher procedural bleeding (16.9% vs 11.2%; P < .05), required more blood transfusions (11.9% vs 5.7%; P < .05), and experienced more vascular complications (5.0% vs 1.5%; P < .05). Women experienced higher in-hospital mortality (16.9% vs 9.3%; adjusted OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.2-3.0; P = .003) when compared with men. Although length of stay and hospital charges were similar to those of men, women were less likely to be discharged home after surviving hospitalization (47.9% vs 60.3%; adjusted OR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.50-0.99; P = .04).

In this large nationwide cohort, women with PE who underwent percutaneous thrombectomy showed higher morbidity and in-hospital mortality compared with men.