tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
SN Compr Clin Med
. 2020 Oct 28;1-4.
doi: 10.1007/s42399-020-00605-5. Online ahead of print.
Prevalence of Pulmonary Embolism in COVID-19: a Pooled Analysis
Rupak Desai[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Zainab Gandhi[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Sandeep Singh[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Sonali Sachdeva[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Pritika Manaktala[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Sejal Savani[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Virmitra Desai[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Rajesh Sachdeva[SUP] 1 8 9 [/SUP], Gautam Kumar[SUP] 1 10 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
There remains a high risk of thrombosis in patients affected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and recent reports have shown pulmonary embolism (PE) as a cause of sudden death in these patients. However, the pooled rate of this deadly and frequently underdiagnosed condition among COVID-19 patients remains largely unknown. Given the frequency with which pulmonary embolism has been reported as a fatal complication of severe coronavirus disease, we sought to ascertain the actual prevalence of this event in COVID-19 patients. Using PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, and SCOPUS, a thorough literature search was performed to identify the studies reporting rate of PE among COVID-19. Random effects models were obtained to perform a meta-analysis, and I [SUP]2[/SUP] statistics were used to measure inter-study heterogeneity. Among 3066 COVID-19 patients included from 9 studies, the pooled prevalence of PE was 15.8% (95% CI (6.0-28.8%), I [SUP]2[/SUP] = 98%). The pooled rate in younger cohort (age < 65 years) showed a higher prevalence of 20.5% (95% CI (17.6-24.8%)) as compared to studies including relatively older cohort (age > 65 years) showing 14.3% (95% CI (2.9-30.1%)) (p < 0.05). Single-center studies showed a prevalence of 12.9% (95% CI 1.0-30.2%), while that of multicenter studies was 19.5% (95% CI 14.9-25.2%) (p < 0.05). Pulmonary embolism is a common complication of severe coronavirus disease and a high degree of clinical suspicion for its diagnosis should be maintained in critically ill patients.
Keywords: COVID-19; Infectious disease; Pulmonary embolism; SARS-CoV-2.
. 2020 Oct 28;1-4.
doi: 10.1007/s42399-020-00605-5. Online ahead of print.
Prevalence of Pulmonary Embolism in COVID-19: a Pooled Analysis
Rupak Desai[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Zainab Gandhi[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Sandeep Singh[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Sonali Sachdeva[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Pritika Manaktala[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Sejal Savani[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Virmitra Desai[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Rajesh Sachdeva[SUP] 1 8 9 [/SUP], Gautam Kumar[SUP] 1 10 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33145478
- PMCID: PMC7594943
- DOI: 10.1007/s42399-020-00605-5
Abstract
There remains a high risk of thrombosis in patients affected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and recent reports have shown pulmonary embolism (PE) as a cause of sudden death in these patients. However, the pooled rate of this deadly and frequently underdiagnosed condition among COVID-19 patients remains largely unknown. Given the frequency with which pulmonary embolism has been reported as a fatal complication of severe coronavirus disease, we sought to ascertain the actual prevalence of this event in COVID-19 patients. Using PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, and SCOPUS, a thorough literature search was performed to identify the studies reporting rate of PE among COVID-19. Random effects models were obtained to perform a meta-analysis, and I [SUP]2[/SUP] statistics were used to measure inter-study heterogeneity. Among 3066 COVID-19 patients included from 9 studies, the pooled prevalence of PE was 15.8% (95% CI (6.0-28.8%), I [SUP]2[/SUP] = 98%). The pooled rate in younger cohort (age < 65 years) showed a higher prevalence of 20.5% (95% CI (17.6-24.8%)) as compared to studies including relatively older cohort (age > 65 years) showing 14.3% (95% CI (2.9-30.1%)) (p < 0.05). Single-center studies showed a prevalence of 12.9% (95% CI 1.0-30.2%), while that of multicenter studies was 19.5% (95% CI 14.9-25.2%) (p < 0.05). Pulmonary embolism is a common complication of severe coronavirus disease and a high degree of clinical suspicion for its diagnosis should be maintained in critically ill patients.
Keywords: COVID-19; Infectious disease; Pulmonary embolism; SARS-CoV-2.