Objective  To investigate the clinical value of early diagnosis in elderly patients with pulmonary embolism.

  Methods  A total of 115 elderly patients with pulmonary embolism who were examined in our hospital were selected as group A, and another 115 non-elderly patients with pulmonary embolism who were examined at the same period were selected as group B. Among them, there were 56 males and 59 females in group A, aged 60 years and above, 57 males and 58 females in group B, aged below 60 years.

  Results  There was no significant difference in the ratio of male to female in group A(48.70%vs. 51.30%) and group B(49.57%vs. 50.43%) (P>0.05). The age, mortality within 30 days, mortality after 30 days, and rate of thrombolytic therapy were (74.31±1.23) years, 21.74%, 42.61%, 9.57%, respectively, in group A, which were significantly higher than (50.38±1.08) years, 10.43%, 13.91%and 3.49%, respectively, in the group B(P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of complicating with tumors between group A (11.30%) and group B (12.17%) (P>0.05). The incidences of arrhythmia, pneumonia, cardiac insufficiency, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, renal insufficiency, hypertension, hypoproteinemia, diabetes and hyperlipidemiain were 31.30%, 33.91%, 36.52%, 26.96%, 37.39%, 65.21%, 18.26%, 32.17%, 16.52%, respectively, in the group A, which were higher than 17.39%, 1.74%, 5.22%, 1.74%, 0.87%, 27.83%, 1.74%, 5.22%, 2.61%, respectively, in group B(P < 0.05)The blood pressure, pulse wave, cardiac troponin I and serum uric acid in group A were significantly higher, and arterial oxygen saturation was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). The levels of D-dimer, and serum albumin were (5.89±1.23) mg/L, (24.13±0.23) g/L, respectively, in group A, and were (4.03±0.41) mg/L and (24.09±0.01) g/L, respectively, in group B, which showed no significant differences between two groups.

  Conclusion  Early diagnosis is of high clinical value for elderly patients with pulmonary embolism. The high-risk indicators of early diagnosis can be reference for timely treatment.