Pulmonary embolism as a cause of death in patients who died with cancer.

Little is known about the frequency of death from pulmonary embolism in patients who die with cancer. We investigated this on the basis of data from death certificates, as listed by the United States Bureau of the Census in the period 1980-1998. Among patients with cancer who died over the 19-year period of study, pulmonary embolism was the listed cause of death in 0.21% (95% confidence interval, [CI] 0.21-0.22%). The frequency of death from pulmonary embolism in patients who died with cancer decreased from 0.39% in 1980 to 0.15% in 1998. Adjustment of the data for the frailty of the diagnosis of fatal pulmonary embolism based on death certificates indicated a likely range of 0.60% to 1.05% for the frequency of death from pulmonary embolism among patients who died with cancer in the period 1980-1998. In conclusion, with modern diagnostic, prophylactic, and therapeutic methods, death from pulmonary embolism in patients who died with cancer was 1% or less.