Blood thinners could help coronavirus patients survive, American study shows

Doctors at a New York hospital believe they have found a solution to help save coronavirus patients: blood thinners.

Blood thinning drugs could help the survival rate of COVID-19 patients, as they slow down clotting that is associated with the virus, according to Mount Sinai Hospital. Researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found many hospitalized coronavius patients “have developed high levels of life-threatening blood clots,” according to CathLab Digest.

A study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows hospitalized coronavirus patients have improved outcomes both in and out of the intensive care unit while on the anticoagulants.

“This research demonstrates anticoagulants taken orally, subcutaneously, or intravenously may play a major role in caring for COVID-19 patients, and these may prevent possible deadly events associated with coronavirus, including heart attack, stroke and pulmonary embolism,” said Dr. Valentin Fustor, director of Mount Sinai Heart and an author of the study, in a news release.

Blood clotting can lead to stroke, heart attacks, kidney problems, lung problems and other deadly injuries, Business Insider reported. Doctors are working on how to treat blood clots caused by coronavirus, the publication said.

Researchers looked at 2,773 confirmed COVID-19 patients at five Mount Sinai hospitals in their study, focusing on survival rates of patients given blood thinners. Sixty-three percent of patients on ventilators who were not given blood thinners died, while only 29% of patients on ventilators given anticoagulants died, according to the study.

The study also showed blood thinners can help patients survive longer. Of the intubated patients who died, those not on blood thinners died after an average of nine days, while those on them died after three weeks, research shows.

There were also major differences in the number of patients who experienced major bleeding with and without taking blood thinners, Mount Sinai said.

“All patients in the study had blood work done when they arrived at the hospital, which included measuring various inflammatory markers,” Mount Sinai said in a release. “The analysis of their records showed patients who received anticoagulants had higher inflammatory markers compared to patients who not treated with anticoagulants. This may suggest patients with more severe illness may benefit from anticoagulants early on.”

A co-researcher on the study, Mount Sinai assistant professor of medicine Dr. Anu Lala, said she has seen “an increased amount of blood clot cases” in hospitalized coronavirus patients. She said further analysis and studies are needed to determine how effective blood thinners can be.

“The very fact that there is a signal that is in there in line with what we seem to be observing clinically, having been on the wards for four weeks, it opens the gate for us to do a deeper dive,” Lala told Stat News. “There’s a lot more work to be done to prove or even really determine casuality.”