COVID-19 patients with acute pulmonary embolism have a higher mortality risk: systematic review and meta-analysis based on Italian cohorts.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Acute pulmonary embolism has been recognized as a frequent complication of COVID-19 infection influencing the clinical course and outcomes of these patients. OBJECTIVES: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the mortality risk in COVID-19 Italian patients complicated by acute pulmonary embolism in the short-term period. METHODS: The study was performed in accordance with the Preferred Report Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines. PubMed-MEDLINE and Scopus databases were systematically searched for articles, published in the English language and enrolling Italian cohorts with confirmed COVID-19 infection from inception through 20 October 2021. Mortality risk data were pooled using the Mantel-Haenszel random effects models with odds ratio as the effect measure with 95% confidence interval. Heterogeneity among studies was assessed using Higgins and Thomson I2 statistic. RESULTS: Eight investigations enrolling 1.681 patients (mean age 64.9 years, 1125 males) met the inclusion criteria and were considered for the analysis. A random-effect model showed that acute pulmonary embolism was present in 19.0% of Italian patients with COVID-19 infection. Moreover, these patients were at higher mortality risk compared with those without (odds ratio 1.76, 95% confidence interval 1.26-2.47, P  = 0.001, I2  = 0%). Sensitivity analysis confirmed yielded results. CONCLUSION: In Italian patients with COVID-19 infection, acute pulmonary embolism was present in about one out of five and significantly associated with a higher mortality risk in the short-term period. The identification of acute pulmonary embolism in these patients remains critical to promptly identify vulnerable populations who would require prioritization in treatment and prevention and close monitoring.