Trends in risk stratification, in-hospital management and mortality of patients with acute pulmonary embolism: An analysis from china pulmonary thromboembolism registry study (CURES)

Background: Similar trends of management and in-hospital mortality of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) have been reported in European and American populations. However, these tendencies were not clear in Asian countries. Objectives: We retrospectively analyzed the trends of risk stratification, management and in-hospital mortality for patients with acute PE through a multicenter registry in China (CURES). Methods: Adult patients with acute symptomatic PE were included between 2009 and 2015. Trends in disease diagnosis, treatment and death in hospital were fully analyzed. Risk stratification was retrospectively classified by hemodynamical status and the simplified Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (sPESI) score according to the 2014 European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society guidelines. Results: Among overall 7438 patients, the proportions with high (hemodynamically instability), intermediate (sPESI ≥1) and low (sPESI = 0) risk were 4.2%, 67.1% and 28.7%, respectively. Computed tomographic pulmonary angiography was the widely employed diagnostic approach (87.6%) and anticoagulation was the frequently adopted initial therapy (83.7%). Between 2009 and 2015, a significant decline was observed for all-cause mortality (from 3.1% to 1.3%, adjusted P _{for trend} = 0.0003), with a concomitant reduction in use of initial systemic thrombolysis (from 14.8% to 5.0%, P _{for trend} < 0.0001). The common predictors for all-cause mortality shared by hemodynamically stable and unstable patients were co-existing cancer, older age, and impaired renal function. Conclusions: The considerable reduction of mortality over years was accompanied by changes of initial treatment. These findings highlight the importance of risk stratification-guided management throughout the nation.