Literature Review of D-Dimer Levels on Disease Severity and Mortality, Along with Benefits of Anticoagulants in Covid-19 Patients

ABSTRACT

Since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to spread across the world. Elevated D-dimer has known to have occurred in COVID-19 patients, which was associated with hypercoagulable conditions and could lead to various complications. This literature study aims to identify the effect of increasing D-dimer on the severity, mortality, and other outcomes and the benefits of anticoagulants used in COVID-19 patients. The research was conducted from February 17, 2021, to July 28, 2021, through PubMed, Scopus, and Clinical Trials.gov databases. It was then updated on November 1, 2022, and 116 articles were obtained for this study. The results showed that increased D-dimer was associated as a risk factor for severity, disease progression, and mortality and could predict several outcomes, such as the need for intensive care, cardiac injury, respiratory failure, and thromboembolic events. Several studies suggested the benefit of using prophylactic anticoagulants in COVID-19 patients, but there was insufficient evidence showing that higher doses of anticoagulants were beneficial. © 2023 by the authors.