Fatal pulmonary embolism in hospitalized patients: a large autopsy-based matched case-control study

OBJECTIVE: Pulmonary embolism is an underdiagnosed major cause of death for hospitalized patients. The objective of this study was to identify the conditions associated with fatal pulmonary embolism in this population. METHODS: A total of 13,074 autopsy records were evaluated in a case-control study. Patients were matched by age, sex, and year of death, and factors potentially associated with fatal pulmonary embolism were analyzed using univariate and multivariate conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: Pulmonary embolism was considered fatal in 328 (2.5%) patients. In the multivariate ...