Author:
Bledsoe Joseph,Woller Scott C.,Brooks Maria,Sciurba Frank C.,Krishnan Jerry A.,Martin Deborah,Hou Peter,Lin Janet Y.,Kindzelski Andrei,Handberg Eileen,Kirwan Bridget-Anne,Zaharris Elaine,Castro Lauren,Shapiro Nancy L.,Pepine Carl J.,Majercik Sarah,Fu Zhuxuan,Zhong Yongqi,Venugopal Vidya,Lai Yu-Hsuan,Ridker Paul M.,Connors Jean M.
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Assessment for risks associated with acute stable COVID-19 is important to optimize clinical trial enrollment and target patients for scarce therapeutics. To assess whether healthcare system engagement location is an independent predictor of outcomes we performed a secondary analysis of the ACTIV-4B Outpatient Thrombosis Prevention trial.
Methods
A secondary analysis of the ACTIV-4B trial that was conducted at 52 US sites between September 2020 and August 2021. Participants were enrolled through acute unscheduled episodic care (AUEC) enrollment location (emergency department, or urgent care clinic visit) compared to minimal contact (MC) enrollment (electronic contact from test center lists of positive patients).We report the primary composite outcome of cardiopulmonary hospitalizations, symptomatic venous thromboembolism, myocardial infarction, stroke, transient ischemic attack, systemic arterial thromboembolism, or death among stable outpatients stratified by enrollment setting, AUEC versus MC. A propensity score for AUEC enrollment was created, and Cox proportional hazards regression with inverse probability weighting (IPW) was used to compare the primary outcome by enrollment location.
Results
Among the 657 ACTIV-4B patients randomized, 533 (81.1%) with known enrollment setting data were included in this analysis, 227 from AUEC settings and 306 from MC settings. In a multivariate logistic regression model, time from COVID test, age, Black race, Hispanic ethnicity, and body mass index were associated with AUEC enrollment. Irrespective of trial treatment allocation, patients enrolled at an AUEC setting were 10-times more likely to suffer from the adjudicated primary outcome, 7.9% vs. 0.7%; p < 0.001, compared with patients enrolled at a MC setting. Upon Cox regression analysis adjustment patients enrolled at an AUEC setting remained at significant risk of the primary composite outcome, HR 3.40 (95% CI 1.46, 7.94).
Conclusions
Patients with clinically stable COVID-19 presenting to an AUEC enrollment setting represent a population at increased risk of arterial and venous thrombosis complications, hospitalization for cardiopulmonary events, or death, when adjusted for other risk factors, compared with patients enrolled at a MC setting. Future outpatient therapeutic trials and clinical therapeutic delivery programs of clinically stable COVID-19 patients may focus on inclusion of higher-risk patient populations from AUEC engagement locations.
Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04498273.
Funder
National Institutes of Health
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference20 articles.
1. World Health Organization. https://covid19.who.int. Accessed on Nov. 1, 2021.
2. Fox SE, Akmatbekov A, Harbert JL, Li G, Brown JQ, Vander Heide RS. Pulmonary and Cardiac Pathology in Covid-19: the first autopsy Series from New Orleans. medRxiv. 2020. 2020.04.06.20050575.
3. Danzi GB, Loffi M, Galeazzi G, Gherbesi E. Acute pulmonary embolism and COVID-19 pneumonia: a random association? Eur. Heart J. 2020;41(19):1858.
4. Wichmann D, Sperhake JP, Lutgehetmann M, et al. Autopsy findings and venous thromboembolism in patients with COVID-19: a prospective cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2020. https://doi.org/10.7326/m20-2003.
5. Liu Q, Wang RS, Qu GQ et al. Gross examination report of a COVID-19 death autopsy, Fa yi xue za zhi 36 (2020) 21–3.