Patients assessed to have low clinical probability of pulmonary embolism have better prognosis
FRIDAY, April 15 (HealthDay News) -- Assessment of clinical probability with a revised Geneva score (RGS) could help predict prognosis in patients for whom pulmonary embolism (PE) has been ruled out, according to research published in the April issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine.
Laurent Bertoletti, M.D., of the University of Geneva, and colleagues studied mortality data on 1,334 patients for whom PE had been ruled out to evaluate whether an initial assessment of clinical probability of PE with RGS could be useful in predicting their prognosis.
The researchers found that the three-month mortality rate was 3 percent, and the readmission rate was 19 percent, with a significant difference depending on the patients' RGS-determined probability group. The three-month mortality risk was higher in patients whose RGS-based probability was intermediate or high (odds ratios, 8.7 and 22.6, respectively) compared with those in a low probability group. Readmission risk also increased with PE probability group.
"Initial assessment of clinical probability may help to stratify prognosis of patients in whom PE has been ruled out. Patients with a low probability of PE have a good prognosis. Whether patients with higher probability might benefit from more vigilant care should be evaluated," the authors write.
Abstract
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