Thromboembolic burden, prognostic assessment and outcomes of females compared to males in acute pulmonary embolism

Background: Literature lacks on sex differences in acute pulmonary embolism (PE). Therefore, the aim of our study was to provide information about sex difference in thromboembolic burden, prognostic assessment and outcomes of PE.Materials and methods: We analyzed and compared differences between females and males retrieving data of a multicenter, observational, retrospective, cohort study aimed to analyze characteristics of PE patients admitted in Internal Medicine wards of Tuscany, Italy.Results: 272 (60.1%) of 452 patients enrolled in the study were females. Females were older than males (76.6 ± 12.0 vs. 73.5 ± 13.4 years, p = 0.0005). Mean length of hospital stay was longer in females (11.3 vs. 9.5 days, p = 0053). Reduced mobility was more frequent in females (46.3% vs. 35.5%, p = 0.0322), whereas COPD and active cancer were in males (20% vs. 9.9%, p = 0.0034, and 39.4% vs. 23.8%, p = 0.0004, respectively). Incidental diagnosis of PE was performed more often in males compared to females (19.3% vs. 11....