There are a limited number of studies investigating the effect of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in patients presenting with both pulmonary embolism and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence and prognostic significance of DVT in patients with PE-COPD.

COPD patients admitted with a diagnosis of PE to our tertiary hospital between January 2016 and January 2021 were retrospectively evaluated with an electronic hospital database. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to reveal independent prognostic factors.

Two hundred thirty-three patients (mean age 65.1 ± 12.2, 158 men (67.5 %)) were included. DVT was present at the time of diagnosis in 45 (19.31 %) of the patients. Patients with DVT tend to have more comorbidities, central pulmonary embolism, higher CRP and d-dimer levels, and SPESI score (p<0.05). After performing multivariate analyses, the presence of DVT (HR=3.48, CI: 1.02- 11.88, p = 0.046), ischemic heart disease (HR=3.82, CI: 1.38- 10.80, p = 0.01), and malignancy (HR=4.85, CI: 1.53- 15.41, p = 0.007) were found to be independent factors in predicting 90-day mortality.

In PE-COPD patients, co-existing DVT may predict a worse outcome.