Troponin T predicts in hospital and one year mortality in patients with pulmonary embolism

¹ Depts of Emergency Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: karin.janata{at}meduniwien.ac.at.

	Abstract

We aimed to determine the prognostic value of troponin T for in hospital and one year mortality in a large sample of patients with pulmonary embolism.

Patients presenting at the Emergency Department of a tertiary care center from January 1998 to December 2006 with pulmonary embolism were included. A blood sample was taken at the time of presentation. To determine in hospital and one year mortality, data of the hospital records and the national death register were used.

Of 737 patients with proven pulmonary embolism, troponin T was determined in 563. Troponin was elevated (>0.03ng·ml^-1) in 27%. In hospital survival was 79% in troponin positive compared to 94% in troponin negative patients (p<.001). One year survival was 71% in troponin positive compared to 90% in troponin negative patients (p<.001). Elevated troponin levels meant a 4 times higher risk of in hospital death and 3 times higher risk of one year mortality, even after adjustment for the most important other risk factors for death in this population.

Elevated troponin T independently predicts in hospital and one year mortality in patients with acute pulmonary embolism.