NOTE, original article title: Pulmonary embolism severity and in-hospital mortality: An international comparative study between COVID-19 and non-COVID patients

Patients with and without COVID were compared with respect to the severity of pulmonary embolism (PE). In addition, the association between severity and in-hospital-mortality was assessed.

• A total of 549 COVID (71.3% PCR-confirmed) and 439 non-COVID patients with PE from 62 Spanish and 16 French emergency departments were analyzed.

• PEs were of smaller size (43% vs 56% lobar or larger, 42% vs 35% segmental and 13% vs 9% subsegmental, respectively), right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) was less (22% vs 16%) and simplified Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (sPESI) was lower among COVID patients vs non-COVID patients.

• Although there were less severe PEs, risk of in-hospital mortality appeared to be higher among patients with COVID.

• Findings overall suggest that in COVID patients, the usual tools for risk stratification, specifically the sPESI and RVD, are still valid, while there appeared no validity of the size of a PE.