Fewer deaths in pulmonary embolism plus pancreatic cancer cases in 2020 vs. 2001

Key takeaways:

• Researchers found a lower mortality rate in 2020 vs. 2001 in the total cohort and across several subgroups.
• Before reaching a rate of 13.73% in 2020, rural centers had rates of 9.09% in 2005 and 19.93% in 2010.

BOSTON — Fewer patients hospitalized for acute pulmonary embolism with pancreatic cancer died in 2020 compared with rates in 2001, according to a presentation at the CHEST Annual Meeting.

“The incidence of acute PE cases among patients with pancreatic cancer is not uncommon,” Akashdeep Singh Grewal, MBBS, of Trinity Health Hospital in Michigan, said during his presentation. “However, there is noteworthy improvement in mortality cases.”

Using the 2001 to 2020 National Inpatient Sample database, Grewal and colleagues assessed 74,395 patients hospitalized for acute pulmonary embolism (PE) with pancreatic cancer to find out how mortality rates in this population have changed over this span of 20 years.

In 2001, pancreatic cancer presence in PE was 0.89%, which significantly went up in 2020 to 1.58%, according to Grewal.

“From 2001 to 2020, there was an increased trend of PE cases, which is more likely attributed to more aggressive diagnostic criteria and diagnostic imaging modalities,” Grewal said during the presentation.

In terms of mortality (mean rate, 12.87%), researchers found a significantly lower mortality rate in 2020 vs. 2001 (10.3% vs. 22.67%; P < .01).

“[This] means that there was significant improvement in early diagnosis guideline-based treatment for the patients,” Grewal said.

When divided by sex, males had a reduction in mortality in 2020 vs. 2001 (9.79% vs. 24.91%), as did females (10.9% vs. 19.3%).

Grewal noted that this pattern of lower mortality rates in 2020 continued in the two evaluated racial groups: white patients (9.9% vs. 24.22%) and non-white patients (10.7% vs. 28.7%).

“There is improvement in racial disparity among whites and [the] non-white population,” Grewal said.

Researchers also split the cohort based on rural/urban hospital status and found smaller mortality rates in 2020 vs. 2001 in urban locations (10.16% vs. 23.06%) and rural locations (13.73% vs. 20.21%). Notably, rural hospitals had a mortality rate of 9.09% in 2005, but this grew to 19.93% in 2010, according to the presentation.

“Proactive measures are needed to ensure proper resource allocation in rural health centers,” Grewal said during the presentation.