ABSTRACT
Drug-induced corrected QT (QTc) prolongation can cause Torsade de Pointes (TdP) which leads to severe arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death. However, information on the prevalence of QTc prolongation in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients and risk factors is limited. A retrospective chart review was conducted in COVID-19 patients admitted to Chonburi Hospital from April to October 2020. The outcomes were the incidence of QTc prolongation and prevalence of risk factor QTc prolongation. We included 29 COVID-19 patients. After treatments were initiated, QTc prolongation occurred in 17 patients (58.62%). QT prolongation could be found as early as two days after the treatment initiation (median = 6 days interquartile range [IQR], 4-7). The median QTc interval in those 17 patients increased from 410 (IQR, 399.5-425.0) ms to 460 (453.50-466.50) ms, with the maximum QTc interval of 488 ms. They were treated with multiple drugs that were reported as a cause of QTc prolongation. 64.71% (n = 11) of them were treated with chloroquine. The median TdP risk score in patients with and without QTc prolongation was 3 (IQR, 2-3) and 2 (IQR, 1-2), respectively. The percentage of patients with comorbidities including atrial fibrillation, bradycardia, concomitant use of diuretics, diabetes, electrolyte imbalance was higher in patients with QTc prolongation. COVID-19 patients were treated with multiple drugs that were reported as a cause of QTc prolongation. COVID-19 patients with QTc prolongation had more comorbidities that are risk factors for QTc prolongation.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The association between coronavirus infection 2019 (COVID-19) and thrombosis has been explicitly shown through numerous reports that demonstrate high rates of thrombotic complications in infected patients. Recently, much evidence has shown that patients who survived COVID-19 might have a high thrombotic risk after hospital discharge. This current systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to better understand the incidence of thrombosis, bleeding, and mortality rates among patients discharged after COVID-19 hospitalization. METHODS: Using a search strategy that included terms for postdischarge, thrombosis, and COVID-19, 2 investigators independently searched for published articles indexed in the MEDLINE, Embase, and Scopus databases that were published before August 2021. Pooled incidences and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using the DerSimonian-Laird random-effects model with a double arcsine transformation. RESULTS: Twenty articles were included in the meta-analysis. They provided a total of 19 461 patients discharged after COVID-19 hospitalization. The weighted pooled incidence of overall thrombosis among the patients was 1.3% (95 CI, 0. 6-2; I2 90.5), with a pooled incidence of venous thrombosis of 0.7% (95 CI, 0. 4-1; I2 73.9) and a pooled incidence of arterial thrombosis of 0.6% (95 CI, 0. 2-1; I2 88.1). The weighted pooled incidences of bleeding and mortality were 0.9% (95 CI, 0. 1-1.9; I2 95.1) and 2.8% (95 CI, 0. 6-5; I2 98.2), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The incidences of thrombosis and bleeding in patients discharged after COVID-19 hospitalization are comparable to those of medically ill patients.