Rotational thromboelastometry in patients with type 2 diabetes and mild COVID-19 pneumonia: A pilot prospective study

Background: It was repeatedly demonstrated that patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, as well as patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) have higher risk of thromboembolic complications. Rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM (R)) is a viscoelastic hemostatic assay which allows complex assessment of hemostasis in whole blood. The aim of this study was to compare changes in hemostasis measured by ROTEM (R) in diabetic and nondiabetic patients with mild COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods: We performed a pilot, prospective, observational study and enrolled 33 consecutive patients (14 with T2D and 19 nondiabetic ones) admitted to regular ward with mild COVID-19 pneumonia. The control group consisted from 11 healthy, nondiabetic blood donors. Blood samples were tested with ROTEM (R) using INTEM (R) and EXTEM (R) reagents. Results: We detected significant differences in EXTEM (R) clotting time (CT), clot formation time (CFT), and maximum clot firmness (MCF) comparing patients with mild COVID-19 pneumonia and healthy donors. However, there were no significant differences in EXTEM (R), INTEM (R), and HEPTEM (R) parameters (CT, CFT, and MCF) according to diabetes status. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated hypercoagulation in patients with mild COVID-19 pneumonia. T2D did not affected ROTEM (R) parameters in patients with mild COVID-19 pneumonia.

Automated summary

This study compared the changes in hemostasis between diabetic and nondiabetic patients with mild COVID-19 pneumonia. The results showed hypercoagulation in patients with mild COVID-19 pneumonia, but diabetes did not affect ROTEM(R) parameters.