Age-Adjusted D-Dimer in the Prediction of Pulmonary Embolism: Does a Normal Age-Adjusted D-Dimer Rule Out PE?

Table 1

Characteristics of the study population.

Patient characteristic	No PE ( = 768)	PE ( = 126)
Age (years)	55.5 (17.4)	58.8 (14.7)
Gender (, %)
Female	440 (57.3%)	58 (46%)
Male	328 (42.7%)	68 (54%)
(mean +/− SD)	95.4 (4.9)	94.5 (4.9)
	92.4 (51.7)	89.9 (52.4)
	40.2 (12.1)	39.8 (12.1)
A-a gradient	117.2 (145.5)	132.2 (111.1)
D-Dimer	1066.7 (2121.7)	4029 (7037.1)
Wells rule	3.8 (2.1)	5.6 (2.5)
Geneva score	5.8 (2.6)	7.9 (3.4)
Symptom (, %)
CP	336 (43.7%)	41 (32.5%)
SOB	389 (50.6%)	80 (63.5%)
Unknown	36 (4.7%)	5 (4%)
Stasis (, %)
	499 (65.0%)	77 (61.1%)
+	262 (34.1%)	49 (38.9%)
Surgery/fracture (, %)
	683 (88.9%)	114 (90.5%)
+	68 (8.9%)	12 (9.5%)
Signs of DVT (, %)
	681 (88.6%)	83 (65.9%)
+	80 (10.4%)	43 (34.1%)
Hemoptysis (, %)
	737 (95.9%)	120 (95.2%)
+	24 (3.1%)	6 (4.8%)
Cancer (, %)
	554 (72.1%)	82 (65.1%)
+	205 (26.6%)	44 (34.9%)
Unilateral limb pain (, %)
	719 (93.6%)	97 (77%)
+	42 (5.5%)	29 (23%)
Previous DVT/PE (, %)
	664 (86.4%)	97 (77%)
+	97 (12.6%)	29 (23%)
PNA (WBC CXR) (, %)
	610 (79.4%)	109 (86.5%)
+	151 (19.7%)	17 (13.5%)
COPD (PCO2 Wheeze) (, %)
	677 (88.1%)	116 (92.1%)
+	83 (10.8%)	10 (7.9%)
ACS/HF (, %)
	641 (83.5%)	110 (87.3%)
+	120 (15.6%)	16 (12.7%)
Other diagnosis (, %)
	716 (93.2%)	122 (96.8%)
+	34 (4.4%)	3 (2.4%)
Heart rate (, %)
≤100	366 (47.6%)	55 (43.7%)
>100	392 (51%)	71 (56.3%)
SpO2
Under 75	96 (12.5%)	11 (8.7%)
75–94	199 (25.9%)	33 (26.2%)
95 or Above	463 (60.8%)	82 (65.1%)

CP: chest pain; SOB: shortness of breath; PNA: pneumonia; COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; ACS/HF: acute coronary syndrome/heart failure.