Aim:

to compare the frequency of acute thromboembolic events in patients visited in the casualty department of a regional hospital during the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 with the same period of previous year.

Methods:

retrospective study of patients aged over 40 years of age treated in the casualty department of Hospital de Riotinto (Huelva) from 15 March to 30 April 2019 and same period of 2020. The information was collected from a review of medical records. The data collection questionnaire contained clinical and sociodemographic variables.

Results:

a total of 1245 patients were included. Mean age was 71.2 (SD:13.7) years old and 51.1% were women. In 2019, 797 patients aged over 40 years of age were treated, while in 2020, the patients seen were 448, which represented a decrease of 43.79%. The prevalence of pulmonary embolism was higher in 2020 compared to 2019 (1.6% vs. 0.4%; P=0.024). The frequency of venous thrombotic events was also higher in 2020 compared to 2019 (1.35% vs. 0.4%; P=0.054). The overall prevalence of venous thromboembolic disease with composite variable (pulmonary thromboembolism + venous thrombosis) was statistically significantly higher in 2020 versus 2019 (2.9% versus 0.8%; P=0.003). None of our patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 and thromboembolism.

Conclusions:

during the period of confinement during the pandemic there was an increase in the number of acute thromboembolic events in adults, both PE and VTE compared to the previous year.

Use of resources was two to six times greater among long COVID patients, in contrast to those who did not develop long COVID.

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