Abstract Number: PB2289
Meeting: ISTH 2020 Congress
Theme: Venous Thromboembolism and Cardioembolism » VTE Diagnosis
Background: The morbidity and mortality of patients with pulmonary embolism is high with 8 to 23 deaths per 100,000. In order to make the diagnosis, the emergency physician uses clinical scores that involve the presence or absence of a tachycardia.
Aims: The aim of our study was to assess the impact of beta-blockers on the heart rate of patient with a pulmonary embolism
Methods: We performed a retrospective, observational, monocentric study from June 2014 to May 2015. All consecutive patients admitted to our department with an objectived pulmonary embolism were included
Results: Among the 117 patients included, more than a quarter was under beta-blocker (n = 31). Patients with beta-blockers were older than those without (76+/-11 vs. 66+/-18 years, p = 0.03). The mean heart rate was lower in patient with beta-blockers than in those without (76.7 vs. 90.7 bpm, p < 0.001). Moreover, regarding the heart rate item in the revised Geneva score, those with beta-blockers were more likely to have a heart rate < 75 bpm (42% vs. 19%, p = 0.015) and less likely > 95 bpm (13% vs. 41%, p = 0.04) than those without. However, for the sPESI score, there was no difference between the mean score of those with and without beta-blockers (1.2+/-0.9 vs. 0.9+/-0.8, p = 0.104). Interestingly, regarding the heart rate item of sPESI score, none of the patient with beta-blocker had a heart rate > 110 bpm whereas 9 (10.5%) of those without beta-blocker had it (p = 0.11).
Conclusions: Our study showed that 26.5% of PE patient admitted in an emergency department were under beta-blockers. Those with beta-blockers had a lower mean heart rate than those without. This could have an impact on the different scores used by emergency physicians which could underestimated the PE score of some patient with beta-blocker.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Moustafa F, Desmarie B, Breuil N, Dublanchet N, Teissandier D, Schmidt J. Impact of Beta-Blockers on the Clinical Diagnosis of Patients with Pulmonary Embolism [abstract]. Res Pract Thromb Haemost. 2020; 4 (Suppl 1). https://abstracts.isth.org/abstract/impact-of-beta-blockers-on-the-clinical-diagnosis-of-patients-with-pulmonary-embolism/. Accessed April 19, 2024.« Back to ISTH 2020 Congress
ISTH Congress Abstracts - https://abstracts.isth.org/abstract/impact-of-beta-blockers-on-the-clinical-diagnosis-of-patients-with-pulmonary-embolism/