Effect of intermediate/high versus low dose heparin on the thromboembolic and hemorrhagic risk of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients in the emergency department

Table 2 Difference between variables of patients treated with intermediate/high versus low dose heparin

Variable	Low heparin dose	Intermediate/high heparin dose	p	SMD
Patients (n)	99	45	-	-
Age (years)	70 ± 13	71 ± 13	0.532	0.019
Female sex (n (%))	36 (36)	12 (27)	0.340	-0.219^a
Past or active smoker (n (%))	10 (10)	3 (6.7)	0.755	-0.137^a
Comorbidities (n (%)):
• Obesity	24 (24)	22 (49)	0.006	0.493^a
• Hypertension	56 (56)	32 (71)	0.140	0.321^a
• Diabetes	23 (23)	10 (22)	0.999	-0.024
• Neoplasia	6 (6.0)	1 (2.2)	0.435	-0.260^a
• Past coronary artery disease	13 (13)	5 (11)	0.999	-0.064
• Past cerebrovascular disease	6 (6.0)	3 (6.7)	0.999	0.024
• Chronic kidney disease	39 (39)	20 (44)	0.588	0.102^a
Severe COVID-19 (n (%))	49 (49)	29 (64)	0.107	0.312^a
Hemoglobin (g/dl)	13.3 ± 1.7	13.7 ± 1.8	0.140	0.266^a
Platelet count (n. × 10³/mm³)	217 ± 90	194 ± 56	0.063	-0.410^a
eGFR (ml/min/1.73m²)	67 ± 30	63 ± 27	0.486	-0.129^a
Plasma D-dimer (ng/dl FEU)	733 (561–1367)	1075 (522–1789)	0.581	0.047
Prothrombin time (INR)	1.11 (1.06–1.19)	1.10 (1.05–1.22)	0.894	-0.083^a
Antiplatelet drugs (n (%))	33 (33)	16 (36)	0.850	0.046
Statins (n (%))	24 (24)	10 (22)	0.836	-0.048
Outcomes
Primary outcome (n (%))	30 (30)	18 (40)	0.260	-
All-cause death (n (%))	24 (24)	11 (24)	0.999	-
ATE (n (%))	4 (4.0)	4 (8.9)	0.257	-
VTE (n (%))	6 (6.0)	3 (6.7)	0.999	-
Major hemorrhagic event (n (%))	2 (2.0)	5 (11)	0.031	-

ATE arterial thrombotic event, VTE venous thromboembolism, eGFR estimated glomerular filtration rate by the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation, FEU fibrinogen equivalent units, INR international normalized ratio; p probability, SMD standardized mean difference
^aUnbalanced covariates with SMD higher than 0.050 absolute value. SMD for skewed variables was calculated on log-transformed values

ISSN: 1471-227X