Unveiling coagulation dysfunction in patients with COVID-19: a retrospective analysis

Abstract

Coagulation dysfunction has emerged as a significant aspect of COVID-19 pathophysiology, with abnormal coagulation parameters observed in severe cases. This study aimed to investigate the predictive value of coagulation parameters, including prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (PTT), and international normalized ratio (INR) for mortality in patients with COVID-19. A retrospective analysis was conducted on a cohort of patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Coagulation parameters, including PT, PTT, and INR, were measured upon admission. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the predictive performance of these parameters. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated, and the area under the curve (AUC) values were determined. The analysis included 156 patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The t-test revealed a significant difference (P < 0.05) in PTT, PT, and INR. PTT demonstrated the highest predictive performance, with an AUC value of 0.68, indicating superior discrimination compared with PT and INR. PTT exhibited a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 46% for identifying deceased patients. These findings suggest that PTT may serve as a valuable prognostic marker of mortality risk in patients with COVID-19. Coagulation indicators, particularly PTT, predicted COVID-19 mortality. Monitoring coagulation markers may help stratify the risk and guide treatment. Further research and validation studies are needed to corroborate these findings and to establish the clinical importance of coagulation markers in COVID-19 therapy. COVID-19 coagulation dysfunction mechanisms must be understood in order to design targeted therapies to reduce thrombotic consequences.

Keywords: COVID-19; coagulation; mortality; prothrombin; thromboplastin.

Figure 1

ROC curve analysis of PT, PTT, and INR for predicting mortality in COVID-19 patients