Why carry out this study?

Pre-existing cardiovascular disease appears to increase the chance of complications in COVID-19 patients; however, data in Japan are still limited to date.

This study used de-identified data from the Medical Data Vision database, which covers both general and cardiovascular hospitals, from 1 January 1 to 30 September 2020 to provide an up-to-date real-world characterization of treatment patterns and hospitalization outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in Japan.

What was learned from the study?

Among 9282 eligible patients, 832 (9%) had developed thrombotic disease, including myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, deep vein thromboembolism and pulmonary embolism, of which arterial thrombotic events accounted for 77% of total thrombotic events.

While anticoagulant and/or antiplatelet medication was provided to 3312 patients, 21.2% of patients suffered from thrombotic diseases.

Patients with COVID-19 could experience thrombotic complications in every blood vessel; thus, further optimization of medication is crucial for preventing thrombotic complications and improving prognosis