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European Heart Journal Advance Access originally published online on November 30, 2004
European Heart Journal 2005 26(1):77-83; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehi018
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Clinical research

A prospective study on cardiovascular events after acute pulmonary embolism

Cecilia Becattini1, Giancarlo Agnelli1,*, Paolo Prandoni2, Mauro Silingardi3, Rosamaria Salvi4, Maria Rita Taliani1, Renzo Poggio5, Davide Imberti6, Walter Ageno8, Enrico Pogliani7, Ferdinando Porro9 and Franco Casazza10

1Sezione di Medicina Interna e Cardiovascolare, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Università di Perugia, Via Enrico Dal Pozzo, 06126 Perugia, Italy
2Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Cattedra di Clinica Medica II, Università di Padova, Padua, Italy
3Divisione di Medicina Interna I, Arcispedale S. Maria Nuova, Reggio Emilia, Italy
4U.O. Medicina d'Urgenza, Ospedale di Cattinara, Trieste, Italy
5II Divisione Medicina Generale-Centro Trombosi, Ospedale Galliera, Genoa, Italy
6III Unità Operativa di Medicina Interna, Ospedale di Piacenza, Piacenza, Italy
7Divisione di Ematologia, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Ospedale San Gerardo, Monza, Italy
8Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Terapia Medica, Università dell'Insubria, Varese, Italy
9Medicina d'Urgenza, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
10Divisione di Cardiologia, Ospedale San Carlo Borromeo, Milan, Italy

Received April 17, 2004; revised August 4, 2004; accepted September 9, 2004 * Corresponding author. Tel: +39 075 572 2905 or 578 3395; fax: +39 075 573 3642 or 572 2011. E-mail address: agnellig{at}unipg.it

See page 3 for the editorial comment on this article (doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehi041)

Aims To evaluate the incidence of cardiovascular events in the long-term clinical course of patients with a first episode of symptomatic, objectively confirmed pulmonary embolism.

Methods and results Three hundred and sixty patients with a first episode of pulmonary embolism were included in a prospective study: 209 with idiopathic pulmonary embolism and 151 with pulmonary embolism associated with transient risk factors. The study outcomes were cardiovascular events (recurrent venous thrombo-embolism, acute myocardial infarction, stroke, sudden otherwise unexplained death), cardiovascular death, and death due to any cause. The median follow-up was 38 months. Sixty-four patients had at least one cardiovascular event (5.5% patient-year). Recurrent venous thrombo-embolism occurred in 45 patients (3.9% patient-year), acute myocardial infarction in 12 patients (1.0% patient-year), stroke in six patients (0.5% patient-year), and sudden otherwise unexplained death in four patients (0.3% patient-year). A cardiovascular event occurred in 47 patients with idiopathic pulmonary embolism (7.5% patient-year) and in 17 patients with pulmonary embolism associated with transient risk factors (3.1% patient-year) (RR 2.0; 95% CI 1.20–3.34; P=0.006). Twenty patients with idiopathic pulmonary embolism (3.2% patient-year) and two patients with pulmonary embolism associated with transient risk factors (0.4% patient-year) presented an arterial cardiovascular event (RR 7.2; 95% CI 1.71–30.45; P=0.001). Thirty-three patients died (9.2%). Cardiovascular mortality and cancer mortality accounted for 42.4 and 21.2% of overall mortality, respectively. Idiopathic pulmonary embolism was an independent predictor of cardiovascular events after adjusting for age.

Conclusions Cardiovascular events are more common in patients with idiopathic pulmonary embolism than in patients with pulmonary embolism associated with transient risk factors. Cardiovascular events are the major cause of death in patients with idiopathic pulmonary embolism.

Key Words: Pulmonary embolism • Venous thrombo-embolism • Stroke • Acute myocardial infarction • Anticoagulants


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