Evidence-based On-call

Pulmonary embolism

Prevalence
Clinical features
Differential Diagnosis
Investigations
Therapy
Prevention
Prognosis

Prevalence

Pulmonary embolism is uncommon in the community, ^a

but a quarter of patients referred to hospital with a suspected PE, ^a

and a fifth of patients with pleuritic chest pain have one. ^a

Note:

10% to 32% of patients attending emergency departments with a suspected PE have one ^a
21% of patients with pleuritic chest pain have a PE (95% CI: 15% to 27%) ^a
- 9.0% of patients < 40 years old
- 28% of patients > 40 years old