Anticoagulation Intensity for Hospitalized Non-ICU Patients with COVID-19

Although SARS-CoV-2 infection raises risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE), researchers evaluating patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) have failed to demonstrate outcome benefits of anticoagulation above the intensity of usual VTE prophylaxis (NEJM JW Gen Med May 1 2021 and JAMA 2021; 325:1620). International investigators randomized 465 moderately ill hospitalized adults with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection to receive therapeutic anticoagulation or VTE prophylaxis (predominantly with low-molecular-weight heparin [LMWH]). Moderate illness was defined as elevated D-dimer levels with no ICU admission or mechanical ventilation. Patients at high risk for bleeding were excluded.

One-month outcomes for therapeuti…