Venous thromboembolism in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: clinical and laboratory characteristics at three tertiary care centers in a state capital in the Eastern Amazon.

Abstract

Background: To date, the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes the greatest health care challenge of the century. Its central pathophysiology involves an infectious respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus with potential in the most severe cases to provoke cardiovascular complications, including venous thromboembolism (VTE).

Objectives: This study describes the clinical and laboratory characteristics of hospitalized patients with VTE confirmed during a COVID-19 infection.

Methods: This is an observational, longitudinal, and retrospective analytical study based on review of the medical records of patients admitted to three tertiary centers in the capital of Pará state, Brazil, with VTE diagnosed by imaging. Epidemiological and laboratory data were collected retrospectively at each health center, covering the period starting when the first case of COVID-19 was recorded and ending in July 2021.

Results: VTE cases were recorded in 1.30% of medical records, with percentages varying from 0.60% to 2.25% at the different centers. Mean age, C-reactive protein, D-dimer, body mass index, and length of hospital stay were 46.35 years, 143.23 mg/L, 4.12 µg/mL, 27.65 kg/m², and 50.18 days, respectively. No significant correlations (p < 0.05) were observed between presence of VTE and any of variables studied.

Conclusions: There appeared to be associations between some of the variables tested, but it was not possible to confirm any causal relationships. It is possible that epidemiological associations between COVID-19 and VTE could be measured and better explained by possible confounding factors, such as simultaneous coinfections, preexisting health conditions, and others.