Population and Setting
We conducted a thirteen-years (January 2008 to December 2020) retrospective study of PE cases admitted in the Pediatric Department or Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary care hospital, in patients up to 18 years old. This is a metropolitan, university-affiliated hospital with a catchment area of approximately 137.000 pediatric patients.
Cases were identified through discharge diagnostic codification, using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD‐9‐CM), including 415.1 (Pulmonary embolism and infarction) and subsequent codes. Data was extracted from an administrative database, which includes all cases with a length of stay superior to 24 hours. Additionally, an autopsy-diagnosed case that presented as a cardiac arrest was included for outcomes purposes, but no further data was possible to obtain. In the remaining cases, PE diagnosis was confirmed by imagological criteria.
All available electronic medical records were thoroughly reviewed. Follow up was maintained during a variable period from patient to patient. The study was conducted following ethical norms and standards according to Declaration of Helsinki, including Research Ethics Board of the Hospital approval.