Long-Term Outcomes Following Catheter-Based Therapies in Older Adults With Acute Pulmonary Embolism

Despite the increasing use of catheter-based therapies (CBTs) for acute pulmonary embolism (PE), evidence is limited regarding the long-term outcome.

We aimed to investigate the efficacy of CBT for high- and intermediate-risk PE in older adults.

We included Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 65 to 99 years admitted for PE from 2017 to 2020 and compared in-hospital and long-term outcomes between patients treated with and without CBT. Propensity score matching weight and instrumental variable analyses were implemented.

We included 6,742 and 23,750 patients with high-risk and intermediate-risk PE, of which 11.4% and 15.1% patients were treated with CBT. In high-risk PE, patients treated with CBT, compared with those without, experienced lower in-hospital death (29.0% vs 43.9%; adjusted OR [aOR]: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.61-0.87) and 3-year mortality (45.7% vs 65.5%; adjusted HR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.67-0.85) but higher intracranial hemorrhage (2.1% vs 1.0%; aOR: 2.29; 95% CI: 1.18-4.44). In intermediate-risk PE, we found no evidence that the incidence of in-hospital death differed between the 2 groups (3.1% vs 4.1%; aOR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.75-1.16), but patients treated with CBT experienced lower 3-year mortality (14.9% vs 30.3%; adjusted HR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.63-0.75) and higher incidence of intracranial hemorrhage (0.5% vs 0.3%; aOR: 2.04; 95% CI: 1.17-3.55). The association between the use of CBT and lower 3-year mortality was consistent in the instrumental variable analysis.

Among older adults with high-risk or intermediate-risk PE, patients treated with CBT experienced lower mortality over the follow-up of up to 3 years, but higher risk of in-hospital bleeding complications.