TIMI Risk Index as a Predictor of 30-Day Outcomes in Patients With Acute Pulmonary Embolism.

BACKGROUND: Available studies have already identified age, heart rate (HR) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) as strong predictors of early mortality in acute pulmonary embolism (PE).

MATERIAL AND METHODS: One-hundred-seventy patients, with acute PE confirmed on computed tomography angiography (CTA) were enrolled. Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) risk index (TRI) was calculated using the formula [heart rate (HR) x (AGE/102)/ systolic blood pressure (SBP)]. Study outcomes were 30-day mortality and/or clinical deterioration.

RESULTS: Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve revealed that a TRI ≥45 was highly specific for both outcomes (AUC 0.91, 95% CI 0.83-0.98, p<0.0001) with a positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of 8.3 and 96% for 30-day mortality while PPV and NPV for 30-day mortality and/or clinical deterioration were 21.1 and 98.2%, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis showed that TRI ≥45 was an independent predictor of 30-day mortality (O.R. 22.24, 95% CI 2.54-194.10, p=0.005) independently from positive cTnI and RVD (O.R. 9.57, 95% CI 1.88-48.78, p=0.007; OR 24.99, 95% CI 2.84-219.48, p=0.004). Similarly, 30-day mortality and/or clinical deterioration was predicted by TRI ≥45 (O.R. 11.57, 95% CI 2.36-56.63, p=0.003) and thrombolysis (3.83, 95% CI 1.04-14.09, p=0.043), independently from age, RVD and positive cTnI. Cox regression analysis confirmed the role of TRI as independent predictor for both outcomes. Mantel-Cox analysis showed that after 30-day follow-up there was a statistically significant difference in the distribution of survival between patients with and without TRI ≥45 [log rank (Mantel-Cox) chi-square 17.04, p<0.0001].

CONCLUSIONS: Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) risk index (TRI) predicted both 30-days mortality (all-causes) and/or clinical deterioration in patients with acute PE.