The aim of this study is to verify if patients admitted to hospital in a medical division and in the intensive care unit for a COVID-19 infection are at higher risk of developing a VTE complication and if they actually present an increased hypercoagulable state.
Between December 2019 and January 2020, a new type of coronavirus, named as "coronavirus
disease 2019 - COVID-19" by the World Health Organization, has widely spread throughout the
world, becoming a global health threat. The new COVID-19 is similar to other two types of
coronavirus that in the past two decades have emerged as cause of severe human disease:
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome CoV
(MERS-CoV). Severe respiratory disease or respiratory failure are the principal symptoms of
critical patients, needing a management in ICU with mechanical ventilation.18 Data coming
from laboratory results show a leucopenia mainly represented by a lymphopenia, that is a
cardinal feature of COVID-19. Moreover, the concentration of several serum pro-thrombotic
cytokines, such as interleukins (mainly IL-6, increased in 52% of patients), TNF-α, D-Dimer
are reported to be significantly higher in COVID-19 patients, and significantly higher in
ICU-patients than in non-ICU patients, suggesting an increased hypercoagulable state that,
joined to the other main risk factors (immobilization, ICU admission, mechanical ventilation,
infective disease), place these patients to a potential greater risk of developing VTE
complications.
Drug: thromboprophylaxis with low-molecular-weight heparin or fondaparinux
thromboprophylaxis with low-molecular-weight heparin or fondaparinux
Other Name: thromboprophylaxis
Inclusion Criteria:
- aged >= 18 years
- needing admission to a medical hospital division or to an ICU
- with a confirmed infection for COVID-19
Exclusion Criteria:
- aged < 18 years
Giuseppe Camporese
Padova, Italy
Paolo Simioni, MD, Principal Investigator
Department of Medicine, University of Padua (I)