By Katherine Kozlowski, Medical Author and Contributor to Vein News and www.VeinsVeinsVeins.com
It is well known now that infection with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can lead to systemic coagulation activation and thrombotic complications and therefore, there has been an active interest in investigating the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
Researchers have been investigating this and a group from the Department of Vascular Medicine, Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Acute Internal Medicine, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and the Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands looked at this.
The cumulative incidence of VTE was higher in the ICU, being 26% at 7 days, 47% at 14 days and 59% at 21 days.
The cumulative incidence of VTE was lower on the wards, being 5.8% at 7 days, 9.2% at 14 days and 9.2% at 21 days.
The authors concluded that the observed risk for VTE in COVID-19 is high, particularly in ICU patients, which should lead to a high level of clinical suspicion and low threshold for diagnostic imaging for DVT or PE.