Int J Infect Dis. 2021 Aug 18:S1201-9712(21)00649-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.08.017. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To detect the risk factors for pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients with COVID-19.
METHODS: We searched for studies in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and EMBASE. Two authors independently screened articles and extracted data. The data were pooled by meta-analysis, and three subgroup analyses were performed.
RESULTS: Of the 2210 articles identified, 27 studies were included. Pooled analysis suggested that males (odds ratio (OR) 1.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.26-1.75, P = 0.000), obesity (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.03-1.82, P = 0.033), mechanical ventilation (MV) (OR 3.34, 95% CI 1.90-5.86, P = 0.000), severe parenchymal abnormalities (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.43-2.58, P = 0.000), ICU admission (OR 2.44, 95% CI 1.48-4.03, P = 0.000), and elevated D-dimer and white blood cell (WBC) values (at two points in time: hospital admission or closet to computer tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA)) (P = 0.000) were correlated with a risk for PE occurrence in COVID-19 patients. However, the age and common comorbidities had no association with PE occurrence. The CTPA, unclear-ratio/low-ratio, and hospitalization subgroups had consistent risk factors with the whole studies. However, other subgroups got fewer PE risk factors.
CONCLUSIONS: PE risk factors in COVID-19 are different from the classic PE risk factors. And they were likely to differ in diverse study populations.
PMID:34418565 | PMC:PMC8372457 | DOI:10.1016/j.ijid.2021.08.017