Trends in home treatment and early discharge of patients with low-risk pulmonary embolism

Abstract Background A strategy of ambulatory treatment or early discharge (≤ 48 hours) of patients with acute low-risk pulmonary embolism (PE) has been adopted by the most recent guideline recommendations. However, the adoption of such a change of paradigm in PE care in the ‘real-world’ clinical setting, outside the concept of prospective cohort (management) studies, remains unknown. Aims To determine the proportion of patients with PE who fulfill eligibility criteria for home treatment or early discharge, to investigate in how many of them such a management strategy is actually followed, and to discover differences in early complications between early or later discharge among low-risk patients. Methods We used two nationwide databases, the US Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) and Nationwide Readmission Database (NRD), to identify patients with low-risk PE (absence of the following at presentation: haemodynamic instability, cor pulmonale, tachycardia, dyspnea, hypothermia, altered mental status, and fulfilment of the Hestia critieria). We investigated the proportion of patients that were discharged entirely at home, or discharged early (hospital stay £ 2 days) and their association with predictor variables. We also studied the 90-day occurrence of venous thromboembolism recurrence and major bleeding. Results From 2016 to 2020, there were 2,099,390 emergency department visits for PE (NEDS Database), with 641,621 (30.6%) classified as low-risk. Home treatment was documented in 20.3% of all cases, with 31.5% of low-risk PE cases being treated at home and an increasing trend over time (Figure 1A). Factors associated with home treatment for low-risk PE included younger age, female sex, and absence of comorbidities; home treatment was more frequent at university hospitals, non-metropolitan hospitals, and those with higher emergency department volumes (Figure 2A). In the NRD Database, there were 1,950,708 PE hospitalizations during the same period with 481,321 classified as low-risk (24.7%). An early discharge strategy was followed in 22.6% of all cases, increasing to 45.9% for low-risk PE admissions, with a rising trend observed from 2016 (Figure 1B). Factors associated with early discharge for low-risk PE included younger age, male sex, and absence of comorbidities; here, university hospitals and metropolitan hospitals were less likely to implement early discharge (Figure 2B). The 90-day incidence of VTE recurrence among low-risk patients was lower with early discharge (1.3% vs. 1.8%, p<0.001), as was major bleeding (1.5% vs. 2.8%, p<0.001). Conclusion Our results reveal an increasing implementation of early discharge and home treatment for low-risk PE across recent years. Factors influencing these strategies are related to demographics and hospital type. Early discharge was associated with favourable outcomes in the real-world setting, thus supporting the results of previously performed prospective cohort studies and randomized trials.Figure 1Figure 2