Journal of Internal Medicine Concepts & Practice ›› 2022, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (05): 379-384.doi: 10.16138/j.1673-6087.2022.05.006

• Original article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Clinical characteristics of 142 elderly patients with acute pulmonary embolism

LI Zhen, PAN Lina, HU Jiaan(), XU Zhihong()   

  1. Department of Geriatrics, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
  • Received:2021-06-24 Online:2022-09-30 Published:2022-11-04
  • Contact: HU Jiaan,XU Zhihong E-mail:jahu_rj@aliyun.com;zhihxu@163.com

Abstract:

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of elderly patients with acute pulmonary embolism(APE) and to help the individualized medical treatment of APE in the elderly and to improve the management of diseases. Methods This study retrospectively analyzed the patients with APE in Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from January 2018 to December 2020. According to age, 142 cases were divided into elderly group (≥60 years old) and 65 cases into non-elderly group (<60 years old). According to sex, the elderly patients with APE were divided into elderly male group (70 cases) and elderly female group (72 cases). The clinical information including risk factors of pulmonary embolism, clinical symptoms, laboratory tests, imaging examination, treatment and prognosis in each group were collected and analyzed using SPSS20 software. Results Firstly, the deep venous thrombosis(DVT) was the most common risk factor for APE in elderly and non-elderly. The proportion of hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), atrial fibrillation in the elderly group was higher than those in the non-elderly group (P<0.05). The incidence of APE in the elderly patients with hypertension was 3.281 times as much as non-elderly group. Secondly, the most common clinical symptom in the elderly and non-elderly groups was chest tightness, while the proportion of breath shortness in the elderly group was significantly higher than that in the non-elderly group (P<0.05). Thirdly, the positive rate of D-dimer, mean platelet volume, pulmonary artery pressure, troponin I and B-type natriuretic peptide were higher in elderly group than those in non-elderly group(P<0.05). Fourthly, the proportion of APE in the elderly female group(23.6%) with recent history of surgery or immobilization was higher than that in the elderly male group(4.3%)(P<0.05). Conclusions The elderly patients with APE often had multiple underlying diseases, which led to atypical clinical symptoms and difficulty to make diagnosis. Clinical diagnosis should be combined with previous medical history and related examinations to avoid misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis.

Key words: Acute pulmonary embolism, Comprehensive evaluation, Elderly

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