Blood clots are common among COVID-19 patients, a phenomenon researchers have been exploring in great detail since the pandemic first began. Could taking a direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) protect patients from COVID-19 in any way?
That’s exactly what a team out of Sweden aimed to find out, sharing its findings in the Journal of Internal Medicine.
The authors explored data from more than 450,000 Swedish adults between the ages of 45 and 84 years old. More than 100,000 patients were already taking anticoagulant medication for atrial fibrillation (AFib), and the other patients weren’t on a DOAC at all.
Overall, the team reported, the ongoing use of a DOAC was not associated with a reduced risk of hospitalization for COVID-19 or COVID-related mortality.
“Our findings suggest that early DOAC treatment doesn’t protect against severe COVID-19, but these should be treated with caution since there might remain differences between the groups that are difficult to measure,” lead author Benjamin Flam, MD, of Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, said in a statement. “Also, our study says nothing about whether other types of anticoagulants could be effective, but a good many clinical studies are being done around the world.”
Read about more research related to COVID-19 and blood clots here, here and here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.