Increased Incidence of Acute Pulmonary Embolism in Emergency Department Patients During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Abstract

Early detection of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection is integral to the clinical management of these patients. Many recently published studies have evaluated incidence of PE in hospitalized patients with COVID-191-9 , however there is relatively limited data describing patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and concomitant diagnosis of acute PE upon initial presentation. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to (i) evaluate the incidence of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients undergoing computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) in the emergency department (ED) across six hospitals in New York City during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to a non-pandemic period, and (ii) compare the characteristics and early outcomes of patients presenting with PE during the pandemic (n=87) to patients presenting with PE during a non-pandemic period (n=34).