Validation of simplified PESI score for identification of low-risk patients with pulmonary embolism: From the COMMAND VTE Registry

The simplified pulmonary embolism severity index (sPESI) score has been reported to be useful in predicting 30-day mortality for patients with pulmonary embolism, which helps the identification of low-risk patients for early hospital discharge or home treatment. However, therapeutic decision-making should also be based on the risks of adverse events other than mortality.

The COMMAND VTE Registry is a multicentre registry enrolling consecutive patients with acute symptomatic venous thromboembolism in Japan between January 2010 and August 2014, and the current study population consisted of 1715 patients with pulmonary embolism. We calculated the sPESI score for each patient, and compared 30-day rates of mortality, recurrent venous thromboembolism and major bleeding between sPESI scores of 0 and 1 or greater.

Patients with a sPESI score of 0 accounted for 383 (22%) patients, and 110 (6.4%) patients died within 30 days. The cumulative 30-day incidence of mortality was lower in patients with a sPESI score of 0 than those with a sPESI score of 1 or greater (0.5% vs. 8.1%, log rank P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the cumulative 30-day incidence of recurrent venous thromboembolism between patients with a sPESI score of 0 and 1 or greater (1.3% vs. 2.8%, log rank P=0.11). The cumulative 30-day incidence of major bleeding was lower in patients with a sPESI score of 0 than those with a sPESI score of 1 or greater (1.1% vs. 4.0%, log rank P=0.005).

In patients with a sPESI score of 0, the 30-day mortality, recurrent venous thromboembolism and major bleeding rates were reasonably low. The sPESI score could be useful to identify candidates for early hospital discharge or home treatment.