The influence of pre-admission antiplatelet and anticoagulation therapy on the illness severity in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Japan

• Published in: Journal of infection and chemotherapy : official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy Vol. 27; no. 10; pp. 1498 - 1503
• Main Authors: Togano, Tomiteru, Uemura, Yukari, Asai, Yusuke, Hayakawa, Kayoko, Matsunaga, Nobuaki, Terada, Mari, Ohtsu, Hiroshi, Suzuki, Setsuko, Toyoda, Ako, Hara, Hisao, Sato, Rubuna, Ishikane, Masahiro, Kinoshita-Iwamoto, Noriko, Hangaishi, Akira, Ohmagari, Norio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2021; Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd
• Subjects: Anticoagulants; Anticoagulants - therapeutic use; Antiplatelet therapy; COVID-19; Humans; Japan; Japan - epidemiology; Original; SARS-CoV-2; Severity of Illness Index; Japan; COVID-19; Antiplatelet therapy; Anticoagulants; Japan
• ISSN: 1341-321X; 1437-7780; 1437-7780
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiac.2021.07.016

Many articles have reported that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes coagulation abnormalities and pulmonary thrombosis, contributing to a poorer prognosis. The study aimed to evaluate whether pre-admission anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy prevented severe COVID-19 illness or not.
We conducted a study to determine whether taking antiplatelet or anticoagulation agents before admission affected the severity on admission using a large nationwide cohort of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Japan. We analyzed a large nationwide cohort of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Japan from February 9 to July 31, 2020.
A total of 4265 patients from 342 facilities in Japan were included. Their use was associated with a slight reduction in the disease severity on admission in a propensity score-matched analysis which controlled for underlying diseases. However, this difference was not statistically significant.