Clotting in the small vessels of the lungs appears to be the major, life-threatening complication of patients with severe COVID-19 disease, at least in Caucasians, Irish researchers say.
The comments follow a detailed study of 80 patients admitted to a Dublin hospital with PCR-proven COVID-19. Over the course of the study, more than a quarter of the patients had been admitted to ICU and 16% had died.
On admission, all of the patients had an elevated D-dimer. And, generally, the higher the D-dimer level the worse the prognosis, the researchers found.
COVID‐19 Coagulopathy in Caucasian patients
Br J Haematol. 2020 Apr 24. doi: 10.1111/bjh.16749. [Epub ahead of print]
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