Hospital Costs of Acute Pulmonary Embolism (original) (raw)

Background: While mortality associated with pulmonary embolism (PE) has declined, its incidence has increased. Since PE places a heavy burden on health care systems, we evaluated those patients at our hospital with the primary diagnosis of PE. Our goal was to determine the costs associated with their hospital care. Methods: We included hospitalized patients with PE from September 2003 through May 2010 using our hospital medical records. Patient demographics, characteristics, comorbidities, interventions and treatments were captured from the electronic medical record. Costs were obtained using the hospitals accounting software and were categorized into the areas providing direct patient supplies or care. Results: We identified 991 patients with PE. Nearly half of the patients had active cancer (450, 45.4%), nearly one-third were obese (315, 31.8%), and one-fifth had a prior history of venous thromboembolism. Chest computerized tomography was performed in 88.6% of patients. Median hospital stay was 3 days.