Prospective validation of the Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index

Jacques Donzé; Grégoire Le Gal; Michael J. Fine; Pierre-Marie Roy; Olivier Sanchez; Franck Verschuren; Jacques Cornuz; Guy Meyer; Arnaud Perrier; Marc Righini; Drahomir Aujesky

doi:10.1160/TH08-05-0285

Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Table of Contents

Thromb Haemost 2008; 100(05): 943-948
DOI: 10.1160/TH08-05-0285

New Technologies, Diagnostic Tools and Drugs

Schattauer GmbH

Prospective validation of the Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index

A clinical prognostic model for pulmonary embolism

Jacques Donzé

¹Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

,

Grégoire Le Gal

²Department of Internal Medicine and Chest Diseases, University of Brest, Brest, France

,

Michael J. Fine

³Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, and Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

,

Pierre-Marie Roy

⁴Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Angers, Angers, France

,

Olivier Sanchez

⁵Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

,

Franck Verschuren

⁶Department of Emergency Medicine, St. Luc University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium

,

Jacques Cornuz

¹Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

,

Guy Meyer

⁵Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

,

Arnaud Perrier

⁷Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

,

Marc Righini

⁸Division of Angiology and Hemostasis, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

,

Drahomir Aujesky

¹Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Summary

Practice guidelines recommend outpatient care for selected patients with non-massive pulmonary embolism (PE), but fail to specify how these low-risk patients should be identified. Using data from U.S. patients, we previously derived the Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (PESI), a prediction rule that risk stratifies patients with PE. We sought to validate the PESI in a European patient cohort. We prospectively validated the PESI in patients with PE diagnosed at six emergency departments in three European countries. We used baseline data for the rule’s 11 prognostic variables to stratify patients into five risk classes (I-V) of increasing probability of mortality. The outcome was overall mortality at 90 days after presentation.To assess the accuracy of the PESI to predict mortality, we estimated the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values for low- (risk classes I/II) versus higher- risk patients (risk classes III-V), and the discriminatory power using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Among 357 patients with PE, overall mortality was 5.9%, ranging from 0% in class I to 17.9% in class V. The 186 (52%) low-risk patients had an overall mortality of 1.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.1–3.8%) compared to 11.1% (95% CI: 6.8–16.8%) in the 171 (48%) higher- risk patients. The PESI had a high sensitivity (91%,95% CI: 71–97%) and a negative predictive value (99%, 95% CI: 96–100%) for predicting mortality. The area under the ROC curve was 0.78 (95% CI:0.70–0.86). The PESI reliably identifies patients with PE who are at low risk of death and who are potential candidates for outpatient care. The PESI may help physicians make more rational decisions about hospitalization for patients with PE.

Keywords

Pulmonary embolism - prediction rule - prognosis - risk - validation study

Full Text

References

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