Cause of death based on systematic post-mortem studies in patients with positive SARS-CoV-2 tissue PCR during the COVID-19 pandemic

Importance Assessment of the causative association between the COVID-19 and cause of death has been hampered by limited availability of systematically performed autopsies. We aimed to present autopsy-confirmed causes of death in patients who died with COVID-19 and to assess the association between thrombosis and diffuse alveolar damage consistent with COVID-19 (DAD). Methods Consecutive forensic (n = 60) and clinical (n = 42) autopsies with positive post-mortem SARS-CoV-2 PCR in lungs (age 73 +/- 14 years, 50% men) were included. The cause of death analysis was based on a review of medical records and histological reports. Thrombotic phenomena in lungs were defined as pulmonary thromboembolism (PE), thrombosis in pulmonary artery branches or microangiopathy in capillary vessels. Results COVID-19 caused or contributed to death in 71% of clinical and 83% of forensic autopsies, in whom significant DAD was observed. Of the patients with COVID-19 as the primary cause of death, only 19% had no thrombotic phenomena in the lungs, as opposed to 38% amongst those with COVID-19 as a contributing cause of death and 54% amongst patients whose death was not related to COVID-19 (p = 0.002). PE was observed in 5 patients. Two patients fulfilled the criteria for lymphocyte myocarditis. Conclusions Vast majority of all PCR-positive fatalities, including out-of-hospital deaths, during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic were related to DAD caused by COVID-19. Pulmonary artery thrombosis and microangiopathy in pulmonary tissue were common and associated with the presence of DAD, whilst venous PE was rarely observed. Histology-confirmed lymphocyte myocarditis was a rare finding.

Automated summary

Assessment of the association between COVID-19 and cause of death was hindered by limited autopsies. However, the study found that a vast majority of PCR-positive fatalities during the pandemic were related to diffuse alveolar damage caused by COVID-19. Pulmonary artery thrombosis and pulmonary tissue microangiopathy were common in these cases, while venous pulmonary embolism was rarely observed.