Association between cardio-ankle vascular index and markers of thrombosis in hospitalized patients COVID-19

• Published in: Terapevtic̆eskii arhiv Vol. 95; no. 7; pp. 548 - 553
• Main Authors: Podzolkov, V I, Bragina, A E, Tarzimanova, A I, Ogibenina, E S, Shvedov, I I, Ivannikov, A A, Megeneishvili, N К, Sutulova, A V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Russia (Federation) "Consilium Medicum" Publishing house 29-09-2023
• Subjects: cardio-ankle vascular index; cavi; covid-19; d-dimer; vascular stiffness; COVID-19; D-dimer; vascular stiffness; cardio-ankle vascular index; CAVI
• ISSN: 0040-3660; 2309-5342
• DOI: 10.26442/00403660.2023.07.202292

To evaluate the relationship between the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) and the marker of procoagulant state - D-dimer in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
This cross-sectional study involved adult patients admitted to the University hospital with clinically diagnosed or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. We compared groups of patients with normal and elevated CAVI. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association between risk factors and elevated D-dimer levels; odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated to determine the strength of association. A
<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
The study included 152 patients [64 (42.1%) men and 88 (57.9%) women], mean age 59.10±12.74 years. 45 (29.6%) had elevated CAVI. Patients with elevated CAVI were older, had more comorbid diseases, a higher Charlson comorbidity index and D-dimer levels. Age, the comorbidity index, and CAVI above 9.5 were associated with elevated D-dimer levels in patients with COVID-19. In a multivariate logistic regression, CAVI above 9.5 was an independent predictor of increased D-dimer in patients with COVID-19 (OR 2.513, 95% CI 1.050-6.012;
=0.038).
In this study, for the first time, the association between a vascular stiffness marker, elevated CAVI, and increased D-dimer levels in COVID-19 patients was shown. This relationship may be a consequence of endothelial dysfunction and can be used as an additional marker of coagulopathy developing as part of COVID-19.