Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the severity of pulmonary embolism in the emergency department using vital signs and age-based vital parameters and compare these parameters with pulmonary embolism severity index (PESI) score. Methods: Between January 2011 and October 2014, there were 284 patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism in the Emergency Unit of Selcuk University Hospital. Patient records were reviewed retrospectively. The PESI scores were calculated, and patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups. Shock index (SI), age-based shock index (SIA), maximum heart rate (MHR), minpulse (MP) and pulse maximum index (PMI) were calculated. The association of these parameters with PESI was evaluated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the association of risk and mortality with age-based markers. Results: There were 75 men (43%) in the 173 patients included in the study. The PESI classification showed 54 patients in the low-risk group and 119 patients in the high-risk group. Mortality was higher in the PESI high-risk group, and no deaths occurred in the low-risk group. Comparison of the age-based markers and PESI for patients who died or survived showed that AUC for PESI was 0.807, AUC for SI was 0.824 and AUC for SIA was 0.825. Conclusions: The SIA risk classification was more efficient than SI in pulmonary embolism patients who presented to the emergency unit. The SIA was more accurate than SI or PESI in predicting mortality.