RESUMEN
Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of elderly acute pulmonary thromboembolism(APE)patients complicated with preexisting atrial fibrillation(AF)and the impact of preexisting AF on in-hospital adverse outcomes in elderly patients with APE.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on elderly APE patients with preexisting AF hospitalized in Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2021.We compared the comorbidities, symptoms, signs, laboratory test results and echocardiographic features, simplified pulmonary embolism severity index(sPESI)scores and adverse in-hospital outcomes between the preexisting AF group and the non-AF group.Logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors of in-hospital adverse outcomes in elderly patients with APE.Results:A total of 240 patients diagnosed with APE were enrolled.There were 120 patients in the AF group and 120 patients in the non-AF group.For patients in the AF group and the non-AF group, the proportions with chronic heart failure were 38.3%(46/120)and 15.8%(19/120), the proportions with lower extremity deep vein thrombosis(DVT)were 36.7%(44/120)and 65.8%(79/120), the left ventricular ejection fractions(LVEF)were(59±10)% and(62±7)%, and hospital stays were(15±7)and(11±4)days, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant( χ2=15.381, 20.429, t=2.527, -4.710, all P<0.05). The incidences of in-hospital adverse outcomes in the AF group and the non-AF group were 4.2%(5/120)and 3.3%(4/120), respectively, with no significant difference( χ2=0.000, P=1.000). The overall incidence of in-hospital adverse outcomes was 3.8%(9/240). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that elevated lactic acid was an independent risk factor for in-hospital adverse outcomes( OR=2.753, 95% CI: 1.367-5.542, P=0.005). However, AF( OR=2.880, 95% CI: 0.587-14.141, P=0.192)and sPESI score( OR=2.056, 95% CI: 0.904-4.673, P=0.086)were not associated with in-hospital adverse outcomes. Conclusions:Elderly APE patients with preexisting AF have a relatively low incidence of DVT, but a higher proportion have concurrent chronic heart failure and need a longer hospital stay.Elevated lactic acid is an independent risk factor for in-hospital adverse outcomes of elderly APE patients with preexisting AF.However, preexisting AF has no predictive value for in-hospital adverse outcomes in elderly patients with APE.