Extensive Investigation of the Hemostatic Profile in a Prospective Cohort of Patients Affected by COVID-19

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), a viral respiratory illness caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been associated with the occurrence of cardiovascular adverse events including acute myocardial injury, acute heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, and thromboembolic disease. These complications represent an important issue in COVID-19 patients accounting for the increased morbidity and mortality of this syndrome. According to a scoping review, venous thromboembolism and stroke occurred in approximately 20% and 3% of patients, respectively, with higher frequency observed in severely ill patients admitted to intensive care units. Despite the use of pharmacological thromboprophylaxis, the thrombotic risk still remained elevated in severe COVID-19 patients, and the optimal doses and timing of anticoagulation are not yet defined. The pathogenesis of COVID-19 associated thrombosis recognizes a prominent role of endothelial damage induced by both direct viral injury and an excessive and aberrant hyper-inflammatory host immune response associated to an increase in infection-related cytokines and chemokines. The occurrence of a hypercoagulable state in COVID-19 patients associated to a profound endothelial cell activation/dysfunction can result in the pathological phenomenon of immunothrombosis.

In this study, in a prospective cohort of consecutive COVID-19 hospitalized patients, an extensive characterization of the hemostatic alterations were performed, in order to: 1) clarify mechanisms underlying the coagulopathy in these patients; 2) how and to what extent the concomitant infection with SARS-CoV-2 affect this coagulopathy; and 3) identify biomarkers potentially predictive of disease outcome (i.e. any thrombotic recurrence and death).