Therapeutic Anticoagulation with Heparin in Critically Ill Patients with Covid-19
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-26-2021
Publication Title
The New England journal of medicine
Abstract
Background: Thrombosis and inflammation may contribute to morbidity and mortality among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). We hypothesized that therapeutic-dose anticoagulation would improve outcomes in critically ill patients with Covid-19.
Methods: In an open-label, adaptive, multiplatform, randomized clinical trial, critically ill patients with severe Covid-19 were randomly assigned to a pragmatically defined regimen of either therapeutic-dose anticoagulation with heparin or pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis in accordance with local usual care. The primary outcome was organ support-free days, evaluated on an ordinal scale that combined in-hospital death (assigned a value of -1) and the number of days free of cardiovascular or respiratory organ support up to day 21 among patients who survived to hospital discharge.
Results: The trial was stopped when the prespecified criterion for futility was met for therapeutic-dose anticoagulation. Data on the primary outcome were available for 1098 patients (534 assigned to therapeutic-dose anticoagulation and 564 assigned to usual-care thromboprophylaxis). The median value for organ support-free days was 1 (interquartile range, -1 to 16) among the patients assigned to therapeutic-dose anticoagulation and was 4 (interquartile range, -1 to 16) among the patients assigned to usual-care thromboprophylaxis (adjusted proportional odds ratio, 0.83; 95% credible interval, 0.67 to 1.03; posterior probability of futility [defined as an odds ratio
Conclusions: In critically ill patients with Covid-19, an initial strategy of therapeutic-dose anticoagulation with heparin did not result in a greater probability of survival to hospital discharge or a greater number of days free of cardiovascular or respiratory organ support than did usual-care pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis. (REMAP-CAP, ACTIV-4a, and ATTACC ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT02735707, NCT04505774, NCT04359277, and NCT04372589.).
Volume
385
Issue
9
First Page
777
Last Page
789
Recommended Citation
REMAP-CAP Investigators; ACTIV-4a Investigators; ATTACC Investigators, Goligher EC, Bradbury CA, McVerry BJ, Lawler PR, Berger JS, Gong MN, Carrier M, Reynolds HR, Kumar A, Turgeon AF, Kornblith LZ, Kahn SR, Marshall JC, Kim KS, Houston BL, Derde LPG, Cushman M, Tritschler T, Angus DC, Godoy LC, McQuilten Z, Kirwan BA, Farkouh ME, Brooks MM, Lewis RJ, Berry LR, Lorenzi E, Gordon AC, Ahuja T, Al-Beidh F, Annane D, Arabi YM, Aryal D, Baumann Kreuziger L, Beane A, Bhimani Z, Bihari S, Billett HH, Bond L, Bonten M, Brunkhorst F, Buxton M, Buzgau A, Castellucci LA, Chekuri S, Chen JT, Cheng AC, Chkhikvadze T, Coiffard B, Contreras A, Costantini TW, de Brouwer S, Detry MA, Duggal A, Džavík V, Effron MB, Eng HF, Escobedo J, Estcourt LJ, Everett BM, Fergusson DA, Fitzgerald M, Fowler RA, Froess JD, Fu Z, Galanaud JP, Galen BT, Gandotra S, Girard TD, Goodman AL, Goossens H, Green C, Greenstein YY, Gross PL, Haniffa R, Hegde SM, Hendrickson CM, Higgins AM, Hindenburg AA, Hope AA, Horowitz JM, Horvat CM, Huang DT, Hudock K, Hunt BJ, Husain M, Hyzy RC, Jacobson JR, Jayakumar D, Keller NM, Khan A, Kim Y, Kindzelski A, King AJ, Knudson MM, Kornblith AE, Kutcher ME, Laffan MA, Lamontagne F, Le Gal G, Leeper CM, Leifer ES, Lim G, Gallego Lima F, Linstrum K, Litton E, Lopez-Sendon J, Lother SA, Marten N, Saud Marinez A, Martinez M, Mateos Garcia E, Mavromichalis S, McAuley DF, McDonald EG, McGlothlin A, McGuinness SP, Middeldorp S, Montgomery SK, Mouncey PR, Murthy S, Nair GB, Nair R, Nichol AD, Nicolau JC, Nunez-Garcia B, Park JJ, Park PK, Parke RL, Parker JC, Parnia S, Paul JD, Pompilio M, Quigley JG, Rosenson RS, Rost NS, Rowan K, Santos FO, Santos M, Santos MO, Satterwhite L, Saunders CT, Schreiber J, Schutgens REG, Seymour CW, Siegal DM, Silva DG Jr, Singhal AB, Slutsky AS, Solvason D, Stanworth SJ, Turner AM, van Bentum-Puijk W, van de Veerdonk FL, van Diepen S, Vazquez-Grande G, Wahid L, Wareham V, Widmer RJ, Wilson JG, Yuriditsky E, Zhong Y, Berry SM, McArthur CJ, Neal MD, Hochman JS, Webb SA, Zarychanski R. Therapeutic Anticoagulation with Heparin in Critically Ill Patients with Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2021 Aug 26;385(9):777-789. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2103417. Epub 2021 Aug 4. PMID: 34351722; PMCID: PMC8362592.
DOI
10.1056/NEJMoa2103417
PubMed ID
34351722