Venous thromboembolism in COVID-19 patients

We read with interest the study published by Tang and coll.1 in a recent issue of the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. In this retrospective analysis, conducted at the Tongji Hospital of Wuhan, China, it is reported that heparin treatment reduces mortality in subjects affected by severe COVID-19 who have “sepsis-induced coagulopathy”. The definition of severe COVID-19 was the presence of at least one of following: respiratory rate ≥30 breaths /min; arterial oxygen saturation ≤93% at rest; PaO2/FiO2 ≤300 mmHg. The Authors of this study also reported that, among subjects not treated with heparin, mortality raised according with D-dimer levels. Of note, patients that received heparin in this study were mostly treated with enoxaparin, at the thromboprophylactic dose of 40-60 mg/day, for at least 7 days.