Thromboembolic Complications in Patients With COVID-19

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular complications, including myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and pulmonary embo-lism, represent an important source of adverse outcomes in coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). OBJECTIVES To assess the frequency of arterial and venous thromboembolic disease, risk factors, prevention and management patterns, and outcomes in patients with COVID-19, the authors designed a multicenter, observational cohort study. METHODS We analyzed a retrospective cohort of 1,114 patients with COVID-19 diagnosed through our Mass General Brigham integrated health network. The total cohort was analyzed by site of care: intensive care (n = 170); hospitalized nonintensive care (n = 229); and outpatient (n = 715). The primary study outcome was a composite of adjudicated major arterial or venous thromboembolism. RESULTS Patients with COVID-19 were 22.3% Hispanic/Latinx and 44.2% non-White. Cardiovascular risk factors of hypertension (35.8%), hyperlipidemia (28.6%), and diabetes (18.0%) were common. Prophylactic anticoagulation was prescribed in 89.4% of patients with COVID-19 in the intensive care cohort and 84.7% of those in the hospitalized nonintensive care setting. Frequencies of major arterial or venous thromboembolism, major cardiovascular adverse events, and symptomatic venous thromboembolism were highest in the intensive care cohort (35.3%, 45.9%, and 27.0 %, respectively) followed by the hospitalized nonintensive care cohort (2.6%, 6.1%, and 2.2%, respectively) and the outpatient cohort (0% for all). CONCLUSIONS Major arterial or venous thromboembolism, major adverse cardiovascular events, and symptomatic venous thromboembolism occurred with high frequency in patients with COVID-19, especially in the intensive care setting, despite a high utilization rate of thromboprophylaxis. (J Am Coll Cardiol 2020;76:2060-72) (c) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier on behalf of the American College of Cardiology Foundation. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).