Acute Pulmonary Embolism Outcomes: Home vs In Hospital Treatment

Nearly half of patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) were treated at home with low incidence of adverse events, according to the results of a recent study published in Thrombosis Research.

Data from patients with acute PE in the YEARS study, a prospective, multicenter, diagnostic management study conducted in 12 hospitals in the Netherlands were retrospectively analyzed in a post hoc analysis. Researchers compared the 3-month incidence of PE-related unscheduled readmissions between patients treated at home and in hospital.

Of the 404 patients with acute pulmonary embolism in the YEARS study, 184 (46%) were treated at home. In the patients treated in hospitals, the median duration of admission was 3.0 days. The rate of pulmonary embolism-related readmissions of patients treated at home was 9.7% vs 8.6% for hospitalized patients (crude hazard ratio, 1.1; 95% 0.57-2.1).

“Rates of adverse events were low and PE-related unscheduled readmission rates were not different between patients treated at home or in hospital,” the study authors wrote. “This supports the widespread trend to treat PE patients more often at home.”

Disclosure: Several study authors declared affiliations with the pharmaceutical industry. Please see the original reference for a full list of authors’ disclosures.

Reference

Hendriks SV, Bavalia R, van Bemmel T, et al; for the YEARS Investigators. Current practice patterns of outpatient management of acute pulmonary embolism: a post-hoc analysis of the YEARS study. Thromb Res. 2020;193:60-65. doi:10.1016/j.thromres.2020.05.038