OBJECTIVES: To examine the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in hospitalized COVID-19 patients without prior history of VTE in the United States.

METHODS: This was an analysis of electronic medical records (EMR) data of approximately 51.8 million patients via TriNetX, a global federated health research network providing access to EMRs (diagnoses, procedures, medications, laboratory values, genomic information) from 32 healthcare organizations. The TriNetX platform uses aggregated counts and statistical summaries of de-identified information. Hospitalized patients aged 12 and older with a positive laboratory result for SARS-CoV-2 virus or a diagnosis for COVID-19 were selected. In the main cohort, those with evidence of a VTE prior to the index event (COVID-19) were excluded (N=6,724). Patients with history of a VTE prior to COVID-19 were included in a secondary cohort (N=761) for comparison purposes.

RESULTS: Of the 6,724 hospitalized COVID-19 patients without prior history of VTE, 96 or 1.4% developed VTE post-index. Mortality rate in this cohort was 14.2% (954 patients), hospital discharge rate was 38.4% (2,581 patients), 49.3% (3,315 patients) were treated with an anticoagulant, and 9.7% (654 patients) received invasive mechanical ventilation. The risk of VTE in a cohort of COVID-19 patients who did have prior history of VTE (N=761) was 36.4% (277 patients).

CONCLUSIONS: For those without a personal history of prior VTE events, the risk of developing VTE after being hospitalized with COVID-19 is relatively small.