Pulmonary Embolism: Risk Scores Get Easier

Clinical prediction scores for pulmonary embolism contain elements that cannot be standardized, such as the “likelihood of an alternative explanation” for a patient’s symptoms. Using only elements that are clinical variables and independent of physician judgment would be easier and would make the results more reproducible.

Investigators who developed the widely used Geneva score for assessing risk for PE sought to revise it using exclusively clinical elements. Using data from their original cohort, they tested many variables and assigned weights to those that passed both univariate and multivariate analyses. The eight risk factors constituting the score were age >65, previous deep vein thrombosis or PE, recent surgery or lower-limb fracture,…