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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2011;6(11):e26861.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026861. Epub 2011 Nov 1.

Pulmonary embolism incidence and fatality trends in chinese hospitals from 1997 to 2008: a multicenter registration study

Yuanhua Yang  1 , Lirong Liang, Zhenguo Zhai, Hangyong He, Wanmu Xie, Xiaoxia Peng, Chen Wang; Investigators for National Cooperative Project for Prevention and Treatment of PTE-DVT
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Pulmonary embolism incidence and fatality trends in chinese hospitals from 1997 to 2008: a multicenter registration study

Yuanhua Yang et al. PLoS One. 2011.

Abstract

Background: There has not been sufficient evidence to support the Asians being less susceptible to pulmonary embolism (PE) than other ethnicities, because the prevalence of PE/deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in different racial and ethnic groups has not been carefully studied until recently except in Caucasians. To test the hypothesis that the Chinese population has a lower risk for PE, this study comprehensively assessed the hospital-based incidence and case fatality rates for PE during the 1997-2008 in China.

Methods: A registration study of patients with suspected PE syndromes admitted to 60 level-3 hospitals involved in the National Cooperative Project for the Prevention and Treatment of Venous Thromboembolism (NCPPT) was conducted from January 1997 to December 2008. The only exclusion criterion was an age of less than 18 years. Helical computed tomography scan, ventilation-perfusion lung scintigraphy or pulmonary angiography was carried out before or after hospitalization. All images were reviewed and evaluated independently by two specialists.

Results: A total of 18,206 patients were confirmed with PE from 16,972,182 hospital admissions. The annual incidence was 0.1% (95% CI: 0.1% to 0.2%). The overall incidence of PE in male patients (0.2%, 95% CI: 0.1% to 0.3%) was higher than that in female patients (0.1% and 95% CI: 0.0% to 0.1%). An increasing incidence gradient for PE was noticed from Southern to Northern China. In addition, the case fatality rate was apparently decreasing: 25.1% (95% CI: 16.2% to 36.9%) in 1997 to 8.7% (95% CI: 3.5% to 15.8%) in 2008.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest the relatively stable PE incidence and decreasing fatality trends in Chinese hospitals may be partially attributable to the implementation of the NCCPT and suggest the government should reevaluate the severity of PE so that health resources for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of PE could be used to their fullest.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Incidence and case fatality rates for PE in hospitalized adults from 1997 to 2008.
Figure 2
Figure 2. The regional distribution of incidence for PE in China.
Figure 3
Figure 3. The regional distribution of case fatality rates for PE in China.
Figure 4
Figure 4. The discrepancy between the North and the South in incidence and case fatality rates for PE in China from 1997 to 2008.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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