Incidence of acute pulmonary embolism in COVID-19 patients: Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Eur J Intern Med
; 82: 29-37, 2020 12.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1059589
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) has been described as a frequent and prognostically relevant complication of COVID-19 infection.AIM:
We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the in-hospital incidence of acute PE among COVID-19 patients based on studies published within four months of COVID-19 outbreak. MATERIAL ANDMETHODS:
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed in abstracting data and assessing validity. We searched Medline, Scopus and Web of Science to locate all articles published up to August 1, 2020 reporting the incidence of acute PE (or lung thrombosis) in COVID-19 patients. The pooled in-hospital incidence of acute PE among COVID-19 patients was calculated using a random effects model and presenting the related 95% confidence interval (CI). Statistical heterogeneity was measured using the Higgins I2 statistic.RESULTS:
We analysed data from 7178 COVID-19 patients [mean age 60.4 years] included in twenty-three studies. Among patients hospitalized in general wards and intensive care unit (ICU), the pooled in-hospital incidence of PE (or lung thrombosis) was 14.7% of cases (95% CI 9.9-21.3%, I2=95.0%, p<0.0001) and 23.4% (95% CI16.7-31.8%, I2=88.7%, p<0.0001), respectively. Segmental/sub-segmental pulmonary arteries were more frequently involved compared to main/lobar arteries (6.8% vs18.8%, p<0.001). Computer tomography pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) was used only in 35.3% of patients with COVID-19 infection across six studies.CONCLUSIONS:
The in-hospital incidence of acute PE among COVID-19 patients is higher in ICU patients compared to those hospitalized in general wards. CTPA was rarely used suggesting a potential underestimation of PE cases.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pulmonary Embolism
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
/
Reviews
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Eur J Intern Med
Journal subject:
Internal Medicine
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
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